Speaker of Armenian parliament: Oil dollars are not key to resolving Nagorno Karabakh conflict

REGNUM
September 21, 2006

Speaker of Armenian parliament: Oil dollars are not key to resolving
Nagorno Karabakh conflict Read it in Russian

Speaker of Armenian parliament Tigran Torosyan received Sep
20 ambassador of Netherlands to Armenia Onno Frederic Gudenol
Elderenbosch.

The sides discussed issues of inter-government cooperation, REGNUM
reports referring to the parliament press office. Tigran Torosyan
described inter-state relations with Netherlands as important to
Armenia. Armenia, he stated, has announced Euro-integration a priority
of its foreign policy, and experience and capabilities of Netherlands
are of great interest to Armenia.

The Netherlands ambassador said that Armenia is of special interest
for his country, and signing in October a new neighborhood program
with the European Union will open new opportunities for developing
cooperation and realizing joint programs with the EU.

Onno Elderenbosch informed that after the April elections in
Netherlands, he would be able to take effort to organize bilateral
visits and extend inter-parliamentary relations.

Speaking of the regional situation, Tigran Torosyan noted that Armenia
is ready to establish normal relations with all her neighbors,
although, unfortunately, not all the neighbors are ready for such
relations. In particular, Torosyan maintained, Azerbaijan propagates
hatred towards Armenians, which does not help to settle the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, since it is not oil dollars that are the key to
resolving the issue. It is not coincidental that EU representatives
voice concern about Azerbaijan’s inflating military budget and
belligerent rhetoric of its political leaders. At the same time,
cooperation with other countries, for example, Iran, develops based
on mutual respect.

The sides also touched upon parliamentary elections of 2007,
emphasizing the importance of their conformity to international norms.