U.S. OFFICIAL HAILS ARMENIAN POLL CONDUCT
By Anna Saghabalian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
July 30 2007

A visiting senior U.S. official on Monday praised the Armenian
government’s conduct of recent parliamentary elections and expressed
hope that it will bolster Armenia’s ties with the West.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza described the
May 12 vote as the most democratic in the country’s history after
holding talks with President Robert Kocharian and leaders of the main
Armenian parties.

"I would like to recognize and congratulate Armenia for its success
in holding what appears to be the freest and fairest election in this
phase of Armenia’s independence," Bryza told reporters, echoing the
findings of Western election observers.

"These elections were a real step forward in the development of
democracy in Armenia," he said. "These elections brought the Armenian
electoral process closer to international standards than any previous
election. But there is still some room to go."

Bryza said democratic reform featured large during the talks along
with discussions on the current state of Armenia’s relationship
with the United States and Western security structures. He welcomed
recent years’ increase in the defense and security component of that
relationship, saying he hopes it will deepen further despite Yerevan’s
close ties with Russia.

"We need to build on that foundation of security cooperation, to
the extent that Armenia wishes, to energize those ties between the
Euro-Atlantic community and Armenia, even as Armenia maintains strong
and, we hope, very warm relations with Russia," Bryza said. "We don’t
want Armenia to choose either the Euro-Atlantic community, or Russia.

We want Armenia to choose both of them at the same time."

A statement by Kocharian’s office gave few details of his talks with
the U.S. official which took place in the Armenian president’s summer
retreat on Lake Sevan. It said only that the two men discussed "issues
relating to the current phase of negotiations on the settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

Bryza, who is also the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,
confirmed that Karabakh was also on the agenda. He said he will
proceed to Moscow late Wednesday for two-day consultations with the
group’s two other co-chairs representing France and Russia.

In a joint statement earlier this month, the three mediators expressed
their disappointment with Kocharian’s and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliev’s failure last month to iron out their "remaining differences"
over a framework peace accord put forward by the Minsk Group. They
urged the two leaders to meet again "in the coming months" and again
try to achieve a breakthrough before the start of campaigning for
presidential elections due in both Armenia and Azerbaijan next year.

Bryza indicated on Monday that this is unlikely to happen not only
because of the approaching elections but the ongoing international
talks on the status of Kosovo that look set to result in international
recognition of the Albanian-populated territory’s secession from
Serbia.

"I do sense that the political climate here is shifting its focus
toward the elections," he said. "I sensed that in my own discussions
on Nagorno-Karabakh. I sense also that everybody involved with Karabakh
… is wondering whether or not the Kosovo process will have an impact
on Karabakh."

"So maybe the leaders are going to decide that they want to themselves
take some time to think things through and get a better feel for how
the political situations play out over the next few months," he added.