OSKANIAN, SEMNEBY POINT TO IMPORTANCE OF STABIITY IN ARMENIA

ARKA
March 24, 2008

YEREVAN, March 24. /ARKA/. Stability in Armenia is a guarantee both
for the country’s development and for the further implementation of
regional programs, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and EU
Special Envoy to the South Caucasus Peter Semneby stated in a meeting
in Yerevan. Oskanian and Semneby discussed the post-election situation
in Armenia and possible ways to regain public solidarity.

The twenty-day state of emergency imposed in Yerevan by President
Robert Kocharyan expired on March 21. The decree on state of emergency
was issued after the rallies of the opposition forces protesting
against the results of February 19 presidential elections attributing
victory to Prime Minister Serge Sargssyan turned into public unrest
and clashes with the law-enforcement bodies in which 230 people were
injured, and eight were killed.

Oskanian and Semneby also discussed the results of UN voting on
the Karabakh resolution offered by Azerbaijan and the aftermath of
the voting. On March 14, UN General Assembly passed the resolution
on Karabakh demanding that Armenian forces be immediately pulled
out of the "occupied" territories and that Azerbaijan’s rights to
Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories be confirmed. The resolution
was adopted with 39 in favor, 7 against, and 100 abstentions. The
United States, France and Russia, co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,
were among those who voted against.