SOUTHERN CAUCASUS….

Presidents Haidar Aliev of Azerbaijan and Robert Kocharian of Armenia held their second direct summit of the summer on August 22 near Geneva. The bilateral talks are working toward a settlement of the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic-Armenian region in Azerbaijan now under de facto Armenian control. The two leaders endorsed the negotiating formula “less than independence, more than autonomy” and instructed their defense ministers to “reinforce the cease-fire.” They will meet again next month. After the talks, nationalists in Baku criticized Aliev for offering “concessions.” In Yerevan, Kocharian was attacked in almost the same words.