GORAN LENMARKER: ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN HAVE A BRILLIANT OPPORTUNITY TO REACH AN AGREEMENT

ArmRadio.am
05.02.2007 17:19

"Armenia and Azerbaijan have a brilliant opportunity to reach an
agreement on the Karabakh issue. I think after parliamentary elections
there will be an opportunity to draw conclusions," President of the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Goran Lenmarker said during today’s
meeting with journalists. He said his optimism is based on the
periodic discussions by the Foreign Ministers of the two countries
held in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and several meetings
of the Presidents last year.

On more active engagement of Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiation
process, Goran Lenmarker noted, "the negotiation process proceeds in
the framework of the Minsk Group and there is no necessity to change
it now." According to him, any change of the format will only delay
the resolution of the issue.

Goran Lenmarker does not agree that the Karabakh conflict is frozen,
"since every year 20-30 people die on the contact line." Besides, the
issue of refugees is also important. "I know that only in Armenia there
are 400 thousand refugees, the number is large also in Azerbaijan,"
said the OSCE PA President, underlining that coming to an agreement
is a necessity.