ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PROGRESS IN KARABAKH ISSUE

Armenpress
Feb 20 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: Foreign minister Vartan Oskanian said
today Armenia and Azerbaijan could make progress in their efforts to
settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within this year, but added it
was a cautiously optimistic outlook.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with the visiting German foreign
minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Oskanian said the current peace plan
put forth by international peace brokers from the OSCE Minsk Group,
inspires hope, but added there remain several contentious points. "In
the long run what concerns the basic conflict resolution principles
there is optimism,’ he said.

Oskanian said a fresh window of opportunity for Armenia and Azerbaijan
to try to hammer out a peace deal would emerge after parliamentary
elections in Armenia, due on May 12. "If the parties and especially
the Azerbaijani side show enough political will we may register a
serious breakthrough this year,’ Oskanian said.

He said he could not rule out such progress, but again reiterated it
was a very cautious forecast which he said is supported by his more
than a decade involvement in the peace talks with Azerbaijan.

"There were moments in the past when the solution to the problem
seemed very close, but the things then drastically changed moving to
a different direction," he said. The German minister said his country
that holds now the rotating chairmanship in the European Union also
hopes for progress this year. He said his impression from meetings in
Baku and Yerevan is that both sides look at the framework agreement
as a good basis to forge ahead.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress