KARABAKH PROBLEM MUST BE SETTLED IN TALKS – YEREVAN, WASHINGTON

Interfax News Agency
July 15 2008
Russia

Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan and U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice discussed the prospects of Karabakh settlement
during talks in Washington.

"The parties said that the problem can only be settled through
peaceful talks in the framework of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group," the Armenian Foreign Ministry
informed Interfax on Tuesday.

The sides highly appraised the efforts being made by the co- chairmen,
it said. "The parties emphasized the importance of further talks on
the basis of the 2007 Madrid proposals, which create prerequisites
for progress in the peace process," the Foreign Ministry said.

Regarding the prospect of settling relations between Yerevan and
Ankara, Nalbandyan reaffirmed Armenia’s readiness to establish
diplomatic relations with Turkey without prior terms and to open the
Armenian-Turkish border. He also spoke about steps Armenian is making
in this direction, it said.

Yerevan attaches special importance to deeper relations with the
United States, Nalbandyan was quoted as saying.

A program for cooperation in combating the smuggling of nuclear and
radioactive materials was signed in Washington during Nalbandyan’s
visit.