TOO EARLY TO DEPLOY PEACEKEEPERS IN KARABAKH – ARMENIAN OFFICIAL

Interfax-AVN military news agency website, Moscow
1 Jun 06

Yerevan. 1 June: Armenia’s Foreign Ministry believes it is too early
to consider a possible deployment of peacekeepers in the conflict
zone in Nagornyy Karabakh.

“At present there are no final agreements concerning the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict, so it is premature to speak about a deployment of
peacekeepers,” a representative of Armenia’s Foreign Ministry told
Interfax on Thursday [1 June].

The Armenian diplomat also refused to comment on the possibility
of sending CIS peacekeepers to the conflict zone in case Baku and
Yerevan reach an agreement on a settlement.

Armen Rustamyan, the chairman of the foreign policy parliamentary
commission, told Interfax “at present it is too early to talk about
the possible presence of any peacekeeping forces in the zone of the
Karabakh conflict”.

“The issue of peacekeepers’ deployment in the conflict area is only
a component of the whole package on the Karabakh settlement, and it
makes no sense to comment on it separately,” said the MP.

“We think that all issues concerning the possible deployment of a
peacekeeping force in the zone of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
can be discussed only when some agreement on the Karabakh settlement
has been reached but not apart from the general package of issues,”
said Rustamyan.