HEIKKI TALVITIE: EU IS INTERESTED

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
02 July 2004

On June 30 NKR president Arkady Ghukassian met with the special
representative of the European Union on the South Caucasus Heikki
Talvitie who was in Stepanakert for a two-day visit. During the
meeting Mr. Talvitie said that the European Union is greatly
interested in the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. In
this reference he mentioned that the EU is ready to assist to any
undertaking, any progress in the peaceful process. The special
representative pointed out the importance of establishing an
atmosphere is confidence between the conflict parties without which it
is impossible to achieve positive results in the negotiation
process. In his turn the president of NKR thanked Heikki Talvitie for
his visit to Nagorni Karabakh, which testifies to the wish of the EU
to attend to the real situation in the conflict area and to favour the
settlement of the crisis. He supported the opinion of the special
representative on the necessity of mutual trust. At the same time the
president of NKR mentioned that the Karabakh party has offered to
Azerbaijan to undertake joint efforts for creating an atmosphere of
trust but did not receive a corresponding response on the part of
Baku. Arkady Ghukassian especially pointed out the danger of the
growing anti-Armenian hysteria and rooting of the hostile image of the
Armenian in Azerbaijan. Once again the head of NKR emphasized the
importance of full-right participation of Karabakh in the talks
without which the problem of settlement will aggravate. Speaking about
the processes Arkady Ghukassian mentioned that the process of
democratization in all the public and political spheres in Karabakh
has already been deeply rooted. He added that Nagorni Karabakh goes on
to have its contribution to the process of integration and become part
of Europe. The participants of the meeting appreciated the fact of
maintenance of the cease-fire and emphasized the inadmissibility of
solving the conflict through force. At the end of the meeting the
president of NKR said that hopefully the visits of representatives of
European organizations to Nagorni Karabakh will be regular.

AA.
02-07-2004

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress