CONTROVERSY BETWEEN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND MINISTER

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 19 2007

The Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan and deputy speaker
Vahan Hovanisyan addressed the parliamentary hearings on December 19.

They touched upon the agreement of Kars but contradicted to each other.

The point is that Vardan Oskanyan stated that for Armenia the agreement
of Kars is valid as long as it has not been repealed.

Meanwhile, Vahan Hovanisyan stated that the agreement of Kars has
no legal validity. It seems to be an insignificant issue but perhaps
it should be made clear the stance of which of the two officials is
closer to that of official Yerevan because it may turn out that the
Republic of Armenia recognizes an agreement which the Republic of
Armenia considers as having no legal validity.