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Kocharian, Aliyev Talk In 'Very Good Atmosphere'

BUCHAREST, June 5, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have concluded a second round of talks aimed at resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but no progress was reported.

Today's talks were the second time that Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev had met on the sidelines of the Black Sea Summit in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.

The talks were also attended by the French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, which has overseen the peace negotiations since 1992.

U.S. co-chair Steven Mann told RFE/RL that today's meeting took place in a "very good atmosphere" but gave few details about the nature of the talks.

"The co-chairs still believe that 2006 is the window to reach an agreement regarding Karabakh, and I don't want to characterize exactly where we might be in that process," Mann said.

This is the second occasion that Kocharian and Aliyev have met this year. The previous talks, held near Paris in February, failed to yield any agreement.

Predominantly ethnic-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan in 1988, triggering a six-year war that ended with a truce. Officially, the two countries are still at war.

Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org