ARMENIAN FM EXPRESSES OPTIMISM FOR PROGRESS ON DISPUTED ENCLAVE

The New Anatolian with AP / Baku
April 6 2006

Armenia expressed optimism Wednesday that progress could be made
toward a settlement of its dispute with Azerbaijan over the status of
the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave despite the breakdown in talks between
the two countries’ presidents earlier this year.

“The negotiations must be continued and what we have on the table
today must be used as the basis,” Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
said at a meeting with Peter Semneby, the European Union’s special
representative in the South Caucasus region.

“Armenia has already made all possible compromises, there is no place
left to step back,” he said. “The time has come for Azerbaijan to
take steps so that we can get this (negotiation) process moving and
bring it to completion.”

Semneby urged the two sides to act soon to get talks under way again.

“Indeed, there is a window of opportunity, which we need to take
advantage of,” he said.