ArmInfo News Agency (in Russian), Armenia
Sept 12 2008

Armenian leader warns against changing format of Karabakh talks

Yerevan, 11 September: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan today held a
meeting with Nikolaos Kalantzianos, the special envoy of the Greek
foreign minister and the OSCE for the next year. Greece will take over
the presidency of the OSCE next year, the special envoy said. He added
that the main goal of his visit was to discuss Armenia’s expectations,
as well as exchange views on the recent developments in the region.

Sargsyan pointed out that Armenia attaches great importance to
cooperation with the OSCE, which is an important part of the country’s
security. The president said that closer and efficient cooperation has
been established with the Yerevan office of the OSCE.

Noting the importance of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict settlement,
which is one of the major tasks of Armenia, the president pointed out
that the state of neither war nor peace is being maintained owing to
the strenuous activity of the OSCE Minsk Group and the co-chairing
countries. The Armenian side believes that the OSCE Mink Group has a
lot to do and has many opportunities to settle the conflict and that
both talks and attempts to raise the issue at other organizations are
aimed at changing the format which is fraught with a serious risk.

The president described the fulfilment of the Treaty on Conventional
Armed Forces in Europe and the control over the implementation of the
treaty as an important task. The president said that ignoring of the
treaty and an unprecedented increase in the military potential of some
countries in the region could lead to serious consequences.

Sargsyan also touched on cooperation with different OSCE structures,
noting the importance of their impartial and transparent activity.

Touching on Armenian-Greek cooperation, Kalantzianos noted that good
relations had been established between the two countries.