NEW KARABAKH LEADER IN NO RUSH TO FORM CABINET
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
July 27 2007

Bako Sahakian, Nagorno-Karabakh’s president-elect, declined to shed
light Friday on the composition of his cabinet, saying he has not
yet started forming it.

"No discussions are being held on the next government at the moment,"
he told RFE/RL by phone. "We are getting ready for the September 7
inauguration ceremony."

Sahakian swept to a landslide victory in the July 19 presidential
election, capitalizing on the backing of the unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s outgoing President Arkady Ghukasian
and four main political parties. Two of those parties have been in
opposition to Ghukasian.

The broad-based support prompted suggestions that the new Karabakh
leader could share power with his diverse political allies. But he
has so far been tight-lipped about the likely make-up of his cabinet.

"Right now we are reviewing the work which we did during the election
campaign," said Sahakian. "We received about 3,000 letters. Two
working groups are looking into those letters."

Sahakian, who headed Karabakh’s main security agency until recently,
said during the election campaign that, if elected, he will ensure
continuity in policies pursued by Ghukasian. He said on Friday that
one of his first tasks will be to tackle "new forms of bureaucratic red
tape" and pay particular attention to impoverished rural communities.

According to Karlen Avetisian, the NKR’s permanent representative to
Yerevan, Sahakian will not change the Karabakh Armenians’ position
on the conflict with Azerbaijan.

The authorities in Stepanakert are increasingly frustrated with their
lack of direct involvement in the ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
talks. Ghukasian, in power since 1997, has also voiced misgivings
about international mediators’ existing peace proposals.

Commenting on Ghukasian’s decade-long track record, Avetisian singled
out his role in what he described as Karabakh’s successful "transition
from semi-military to civilian rule." "This has been a difficult and
dangerous process," Avetisian told a news conference.

"If it hadn’t happened, we could have met the fate of Chechnya."