Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian
27 Sep 05

Armenian president cautiously optimistic about Karabakh settlement

Yerevan, 27 September: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today
spoke about “some hopes” for the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict.

Robert Kocharyan said this in reply to the question from a Finnish
journalist at a joint briefing with Finnish President Tarja Halonen.

The Armenian president said that “the negotiations process is rather
active at the moment”. Robert Kocharyan noted that the talks on the
peaceful settlement of the conflict have been held since 1994 and, in
fact, have never stopped.

“It is another question that sometimes we was very close to the
settlement of the problem,” the Armenian president noted.

Robert Kocharyan announced that Yerevan attached major importance to
the efforts of international organizations aimed at settling the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. He, however, stressed that assistance of
international organizations would become more important after signing
a peace agreement when they would assume the role of guarantors in
implementing the agreements between the sides.