ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
February 23, 2007 Friday

Progress made at Karabakh talks, no final solution-Kocharian

Lengthy and complicated negotiations with Azerbaijan have resulted in
progress in certain tricky aspects of the Karabakh settlement, but no
final solution has been found as yet, Armenian President Robert
Kocharian told the France 24 television channel on Friday.

“It is possible to find a final solution to any conflict through
reasonable concessions. However, there can be no concessions in
essential things like Karabakh independence, which cannot be a point
of bargaining,” Kocharian said.

He said he doubts that the Karabakh conflict can be resolved in June
2007, after May parliamentary elections in Armenia.

“In fact, there is an equilibrium of forces, and any attempt to
resolve the problem by force is doomed,” he said. “I think this is
a major factor that may help us retain the ceasefire for the
foreseeable future.”