ARMENIAN LEADER SAYS OSCE PROPOSALS "GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT" IN KARABAKH TALKS

Mediamax, Armenia
Feb 29 2008

Yerevan, 29 February: Robert Kocharyan stated in Yerevan today that
after he took office of the President in 1998, Armenia has not received
proposals from the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, according to which
Nagornyy Karabakh should be included in the composition of Azerbaijan.

Mediamax reports, speaking during the meeting with YSU [Yerevan State
University] students today, Robert Kocharyan described this fact as
the greatest achievement in the process of peace settlement for the
recent 10 years.

The president stated that in their proposals, the mediators always
to a smaller or greater extent base on the moods of the sides and
criticized the approaches of the radical opposition to the process of
the Karabakh conflict settlement. He noted that taking up defeatist
stance inside Armenia will have negative influence on the approaches
of the mediator-states.

Robert Kocharyan noted that the co-chairs may form an opinion that
360,000 citizens of Armenia, who gave their votes for the radical
opposition, are ready to surrender the liberated territories; however
in reality these are the representatives of the protesting electorate,
which is discontent with the work of the authorities.

Robert Kocharyan expressed opinion that one must not artificially
prolong or accelerate the settlement process, "however, one also must
not yield in issues of principle importance for us".