ARMENIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER DECLARES SIDES CLOSE TO A DEAL ON KARABAKH CONFLICT

Reports today in the Armenian and Azeri press quote Vardan Oskanian, Armenia's Foreign Minister, declaring that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could be close to a resolution.

Oskanian, who is on a working visit to Austria, supposedly made the statement at a meeting of the OSCE's Permanent Council where he discussed a variety of issues, including the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia.

Regarding Karabakh Oskanian said, " We could be close to a resolution. I have seen all the proposals that have ever been produced by the mediators. I can assure you we have never been this close."

Hot on the heels of Oskanian's statement regarding an imminent deal in Karabakh, the Azeri press lambasted his declarations as mere political propaganda in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia.

No less a figure than Novruz Mammadov, the Chief of the International Relations Department of the Azeri Presidential Administration, described Oskanian's optimism as mere 'speculation" noting that, " Armenia's leadership very frequently resorts to such measures."

Today, the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were scheduled to meet in Belgrade, Serbia, for their second meeting within the Prague process of 2007. Their first meeting was held in Geneva on March 14th.

We doubt that anything groundbreaking will come out of the Belgrade meeting given that a presidential election will take place in Karabakh on July 19th. Azerbaijan has already declared the election as illegal and damaging to the peace process.