RA PRESIDENT’S OPTIMISM "HAS TURNED MORE CAUTIOUS"

armradio.am
13.08.2007 16:57

RA President’s Spokesman Viktor Soghomonyan said in an interview
with Mediamax that the Armenian President’s optimism regarding the
perspectives of the Karabakh conflict solution "has become more
cautious."

Commenting on the current stage of negotiations and the statements
of official Baku that the process has entered a deadlock, Viktor
Soghomonyan noted, "In reality, it is very difficult to give a definite
evaluation to the current state of negotiations. I would prefer to
keep away from harsh formulations, especially considering that, as
a rule, the evaluations of the negotiation process by conflicting
sides are often subjective."

"In any case, the reality is that the talks have not yielded any
results thus far. For us the reasons of this situation are clear. It
is the destructive position of the Azerbaijani side, the illusions
that time can be turned back, history can be edited and there can be
a return to the situation of 1988.

The existence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is an irrefutable
fact and it cannot be a matter of dispute. For that very reason,
taking into consideration Azerbaijan’s obviously destructive way of
action, President Kocharyan has declared many times that he looks at
the perspectives of solution with cautious optimism. Unfortunately,
it seems that the President’s optimism has turned more cautious today,"
Viktor Soghomonyan said.

The President’s Spokesman also turned to the statements Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev made in the resent interview with "Express"
and "K" newspapers of Kazakhstan.

Ilham Aliyev had said, in part, that "the Armenian side is not sincere
in the negotiations, it tries to gain time and deceives the mediators"
and "if Armenia stops its occupation policy, our relations can improve,
and the Armenian people will get more from the cooperation with us
than the alms from abroad."

"Unfortunately, Aliyev’s political will and courage sufficed to come
forth with the recurrent tactless expressions only. Naturally, I’m
not going to comment on all of this. I will only say that there are
people who will take care of the future of Armenia and the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic.

Let Mr. Aliyev mind his own problems," Viktor Soghomonyan said.