ARMENIAN LEADER DENIES LINKS BETWEEN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT, IRAN CRISIS

Mediamax news agency
25 Apr 06

Yerevan, 25 April: “I have not noticed links between the
intensification of the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement process and the
situation surrounding Iran,” Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said
at a joint news conference with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus
in Yerevan today.

Kocharyan said that he did not “feel any additional pressure from the
USA in the settlement process”. He pointed out that the US, Russian
and French co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group “have a single position
and coordinate their work”.

Kocharyan also said that “the negotiating process at present is in
an active phase”, adding that this was not the result of pressure
exerted by the mediators.

“The mandate on the basis of which the mediators are implementing
their activity, does not imply putting pressure on the parties to
the conflict. The mediators are only facilitating the efforts of the
sides aimed at achieving a resolution,” the Armenian president said.