Lebanon is ready to contribute to Karabakh conflict settlement

Regnum, Russia
July 11 2006

Lebanon is ready to contribute to Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,
as well as to share its experience with interested parties. Lebanese
Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Minister Fawzi Salloukh is quoted by
a REGNUM correspondent as stressing in particular that war would be
of benefit for no conflict parties and the problem should be settled
exclusively in a peaceful way, taking into consideration interests
of the conflict parties. At the same time, he stressed that there
is no religious implication in case of Nagorno Karabakh conflict –
"landed property is concerned here."

In his turn, Vardan Oskanyan stated that there were no contacts
yet with Azerbaijani side. "OSCI Minsk Group US co-Chair Matthew
Bryza is going to visit the region soon; may be, it will cause some
developments," the minister stressed. Mentioning mediators’ statements,
in which they pointed out that their imagination had been exhausted,
Vardan Oskanyan stressed that it did not mean that the settlement
process was over and the mediators rejected it. "The parties themselves
should demonstrate activity. The document proposed by the co-chair
is acceptable for those, who really want to achieve settlement based
on compromise. We hope, Baku will recommence negotiations, assuming
the document as a basis," the Armenian foreign minister stressed. At
the same time, Vardan Oskanyan stressed that it was inapprorpiate
to organize meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in the
framework of G8 summit in St. Petersburg. "Had the parties achieved
serious progress in Bucharest, the co-chairs would have thought
about conducting such meeting. However, I do not exclude that summit
participants will surely mention Karabakh problem," Vardan Oskanyan
stated.