Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian
16 Sep 06

REFERRAL TO UN TO SLOW DOWN KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS – ARMENIAN MINISTER

Yerevan, 16 September: The initiative of GUAM [Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Moldova] to discuss "frozen" conflicts at the UN
General Assembly is a new challenge for Armenia, Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan told journalists after the annual meeting of
Armenian ambassadors today.

He said this initiative envisages some qualitative and quantitative
changes in the format of discussions on the problem. "We are not only
dealing with Azerbaijan here, but also with four different countries
which, in turn, have their friends, which expands the circule of
interests," the Armenian foreign minister said.

He said that this requires more active diplomatic efforts. At the
same time, the minister pointed out that if a resolution is put up
for debate, Armenia will be able to achieve an acceptable
formulation. "But generally speaking, we think that this initiative
diverts attention from the main goal – the Minsk process, and might
even slows it down," the minister said.

The minister added that there are serious prospects for a positive
result in the Minsk process. "Perhaps, this is the reason. The
pressure on Azerbaijan is growing, and they are trying to divert
attention. According to my impression from the latest meeting, what
the co-chairmen want is to ‘revive’ the document that is on the
negotiating table regarding which we had expressed our positive
opinion. In fact, Azerbaijan’s activity at the UN coincides with the
co-chairmen’s activity to ‘revive’ the document and achieve positive
changes by the end of the year," the minister pointed out.

"If process is referred to the UN, Karabakh should definitely be
involved in it," Oskanyan said.

[Passage omitted: Oskanyan spoke about the UN’s work and UN
resolutions on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict]