US ENVOY SAYS UN DISCUSSION WON’T HAMPER KARABAKH PEACE TALKS
Regnum, Moscow, in Russian
22 Sep 05
22 September: The US ambassador to Azerbaijan, Reno Harnish,
has commented on Armenia’s statement on the readiness to quit the
settlement process of the Karabakh conflict, if the UN is involved
in the discussions of the issue.
“The talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents,
including the Kazan meeting [on 27 August], have been fruitful. The
two sides have reached an agreement regarding discussions of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in the UN. That is why, the discussions
in the UN are not an obstacle to the settlement process of the
conflict,” the ambassador said.
Harnish also said that the US Congress had not adopted any document
on genocide of Armenians. This issue is being discussed at the
level of [Congress] committees for the time being, he added. “The
US administration believes that this issue should be thoroughly
examined. We call on Turkish specialists to take part in this as well,”
Harnish said.
He said that the USA will render assistance to Azerbaijan in holding
a democratic election, a Regnum news agency correspondent reported.
Asked about the election situation in Azerbaijan, Harnish stressed
that under the current circumstances, it is possible to hold an
election in compliance with international standards. “The authorities,
however, should demonstrate their will and fulfil the commitments of
the presidential decree [on improving election practices] on 11 May
this year. Candidates and voters should be active during the election
and the US government is ready to give its support to ensure that
the election is conducted in a democratic way,” he added.