NEGOTIATIONS WILL CONTINUE

A1+
[04:48 pm] 19 December, 2006

Today Vartan Oskanian, RA Foreign Minister, commented on Robert
Kocharyan’s announcements in which the latter said that there wouldn’t
be any active negotiation process by the parliamentary elections.

Mr. Oskanian claims that negotiations will continue, only their
publicity and the frequency of the meetings will lessen but it won’t
influence on the contents of the negotiations.

Vartan Oskanian didn’t focus on the side asking for time to
contemplate. He focused on specifications, "We voice hope that the
Azeri side will specify its position on all the issues which are on
the table today".

The Armenian Foreign Minister notes that the Karabakh conflict is
a complicated one; many times the sides seemed to be close to the
settlement but then they parted without any result.

Vartan Oskanian claims that there is nothing bad in the fact that
we haven’t made use of 2006 as a "perfect window" for the conflict
regulation.

"The window is here and it can always be opened", says Vartan Oskanian.

By the way, though the conflict hasn’t been settled this year, they
have seen progress in 2006. "There is a great difference between the
beginning and end of the year", says Mr. Oskanyan.

Asked the question by A1+ correspondent why they don’t refer
to adequate compensations and discuss the issue of Shahoumyan and
Getashen during the negotiation process, Vartan Oskanian answered
that they constantly refer to those territories and the document on
them is already laid on the table.