US CO-CHAIR AT OSCE MG DID NOT STATE ARMENIA LESS DEMOCRATIC THAN AZERBAIJAN: ARMENIAN FM

Arka News Agency, Armenia
July 3 2006

YEREVAN, July 3. /ARKA/. American Co-Chair at the OSCE Minsk Group
Mathew Bryza has not stated that Armenia is less democratic than
Azerbaijan, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told reporters.

"The words of Bryza were extracted from the context. He did not
make a direct declaration that Armenia is less democratic country,"
Oskanyan said.

According to Oskanyan, the American co-chair just said that specific
positive shifts in democracy were observed in Azerbaijan, and that
he expects the same from Armenia.

"However, he did not mention reference points for the two countries,"
Oskanyan said..

According to him, these words can be interpreted in the following way:
though Azerbaijan loses to Armenia in democratic development; however,
it made a number of serious steps toward this direction, and Armenia
is also expected to make additional steps to strengthen democracy. I
view this problem exactly this way. The difference between the level
of democracy between Armenian and Azerbaijan is so much obvious that I
cannot comment on this problem differently," Oskanyan said.