EX-MINISTER THINKS DEFENSE MINISTER SHOULD BE PART OF NEGOTIATIONS

Panorama.am
18:00 01/12/06

"I have said that there have been no negotiations between the
parties since 1998. Minsk Group format and that format decided in
Budapest summit have not been applied. The three chairs just pay
visits. For eight year, the mediators negotiate among themselves and
present documents agreed among themselves to the parties," Alexander
Arzumanyan, former foreign minister and initiator of Civic Disobedience
movement, told a press conference today.

"I am a supporter of mutual concessions myself but I think they
do not talk about mutual concessions. They just talk about serious
concessions from our side," he said also saying the minister of defense
has no right to speak about concessions which was done by the Armenian
defense minister. At the same time, Arzumanyan thinks that the defense
minister should become part of negotiations process. Arzumanyan is
against conducting a referendum, saying Artsakh people have made
their decision and it is not subject to change.