ARMENIA IN QUANDARY ABOUT S. OSSETIA, ABKHAZIA – PARTY LEADER

Interfax
Aug 28 2008
Russia

The leader of one of the parties in Armenia’s ruling coalition said
Armenia is in a quandary about what position to take on South Ossetia
and Abkhazia now that Russia has recognized the independence of the
two breakaway Georgian regions.

"We are in a difficult situation now," the press service of the
Dashnaktsutiun Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) told Interfax
in quoting its leader, Armen Rustamian.

"We respect the right to self-determination, and we have defended and
will defend the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to choose their
future on the basis of their own will. Russia, a country that is the
co-chairman of the Minsk Group of the OSCE [Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe] for the settlement of the Nagorno- Karabakh
conflict and is our strategic partner, has recognized the independence
of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, while the other two countries that
are the [Minsk Group] co-chairmen [the United States and France]
have recognized the independence of Kosovo," Rustamian said.

"On the other hand, it is an issue that affects our neighbor Georgia,
with which it is in our interest to have normal relations," he said.

Rustamian said Armenia should not hurry with stating its line on
South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"Armenia has not even recognized the independence of Nagorno- Karabakh
because it believes that the resources of the international community
for achieving a negotiated solution to the problem are not exhausted,"
he said.

"Nor are the resources for the settlement of relations between Russia
and Georgia," Rustamian said. "We think that this is a path that can
and must be taken."