KARABAKH CONFLICT MUST BE SETTLED PEACEFULLY

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
May 23, 2007 Wednesday

It is held in Yerevan that the Karabakh conflict should be
settled peacefully, by talks, with the observance of the right to
self-determination of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said on Wednesday receiving here
representatives of the Minsk group of the OSCE for Nagorno-Karabakh.

They arrived in Yerevan to continue the quest of the ways to settle
the conflict.

Representatives of Russia and France, Yuri Merzlyakov and Bernard
Facier, met on Wednesday with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanyan. "The emphasis was made on the principles of the Karabakh
settlement discussed on which agreement has not yet been reached,"
Itar-Tass learned from the press and information department of
the Armenian Foreign Ministry. They also discussed the schedule of
further meetings.

During the visit the co-chairmen will familiarize themselves with
the stands of the sides and will discuss the possibility of the
next meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Itar-Tass
was told.

The arrangement about the visit of the co-chairmen to the region
was reached at the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers in Belgrade, Serbia, on April 18. Vartan Oskanyan and Elmar
Mamedyarov participated in the 16th meeting of foreign ministers of
member countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization.

Taking part in their conversation were the co-chairmen of the Minsk
group of the OSCE, representing Russia, France and the United States,
and the envoy of the chairman in office of the OSCE. The co-chairmen
suggested to the sides ideas for consideration, said the communique
on the results of the Belgrade meeting.