OSKANIAN DISCUSSES ARMENIAN POLLS, KARABAKH WITH RICE
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 6 2007

Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met with U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice in Washington on Monday to discuss Armenia’s upcoming
parliamentary elections, efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, and other issues of mutual interest.

A statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Oskanian and Rice
agreed on the importance of the vote’s "conformity with international
standards." No details were reported.

The U.S. State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, made no statements
on the meeting during a daily press briefing on Monday.

The U.S. administration is pressing the authorities in Yerevan to
ensure that the elections scheduled for May 12 are more democratic than
the ones held in the past. It has set aside $6 million for various
projects aimed at enhancing the transparency and public oversight of
the electoral process.

U.S. officials have warned that a repeat of electoral fraud would
call into question the disbursement of $235 million in additional
economic assistance to Armenia under the Millennium Challenge Account
(MCA) program. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry statement,
the promised aid was high on the agenda of Oskanian’s talks with
Rice. "The minister presented preparations for the implementation of
the program that have been made until now," it said.

The two officials were also reported to have discussed international
efforts to broker a solution to the Karabakh dispute which are
spearheaded by the United States, Russia, and France. U.S. diplomats
say Armenia and Azerbaijan are close to cutting a framework peace deal
in the months following the Armenian elections. Oskanian is expected
to hold another round of talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar
Mammadyarov next week.

The ministry statement said Oskanian and Rice also discussed U.S.

efforts to help improve the strained Turkish-Armenian relations. It
did not elaborate.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza told RFE/RL last
month that Washington is pressing Ankara to use a rare opportunity
to normalize relations with Yerevan that arose after the January 19
assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Bryza said
Rice is personally "encouraging" a Turkish-Armenian "reconciliation
process" that would address the mass killings and deportations of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Armenian officials have sounded pessimistic about the success of
those efforts, saying that the Turkish government is sticking to its
preconditions for establishing diplomatic relations and reopening
the border with Armenia.

In an interview with the Associated Press news agency, Oskanian said
he specifically spoke with Rice about a draft U.S. congressional
resolution that recognizes the Armenian massacres as genocide. He
expressed concern at high-level Turkish government efforts to scuttle
its widely anticipated passage by the House of Representatives.

"Governments should stay away from meddling in these matters," he
said. "But when topics of interest for Armenia are being discussed,
we cannot remain as a government indifferent, particularly in light
of Turkish lobbying at a government level."

Visiting Washington last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul warned that the resolution, if passed, will harm Turkish-American
relations.