KAREL DE GUCHT: “I AM NOT PESSIMISTIC, HOWEVER, NOT EXCESSIVELY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT CURRENT YEAR”

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 23 2006

“I am not pessimistic, however, not excessively optimistic about
Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement in 2006”, OSCE Chair-in-Office,
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht said, ArmInfo reports quoting
RFE/RL.

According to Karel de Gucht, OSCE is doing its best to bring the
conflict parties to a general resolution of the Karabakh issue. OSCE
Chairman-in-Office suggests that all efforts should be exerted
to find the settlement of the frozen conflict till the end of the
current year. “Everything depends both on Armenia and Azerbaijan;
they should arrive at understanding, while OSCE can only help them
in the matter”, Karel de Gucht stressed.

He also remarked there often were some side obstacles to the frozen
conflicts’ settlement, one of which is the closed Armenian-Turkish
border that hampers the problem’s solution. As for the settlement’s
outlooks, OSCE Chair-in-Office believes we should be optimistic.

“Unless one is optimist he has nothing to do in politics”, he stated.