KARABAKH STATUS KEY ISSUE IN CONFLICT SETTLEMENT – ARMENIAN FM

Armenian Public TV
October 10, 2008 Friday

[Presenter] Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan is in Bishkek
too. Yesterday, he participated in the meeting of the CIS foreign
ministers. Today, he met his Azerbaijani and Russian counterparts.

Speaking to Armenian journalists, Nalbandyan said that details of
the Karabakh conflict settlement were discussed under the [OSCE]
Minsk Group’s Madrid principles. Commenting on the fact that the
meeting was held before the Azerbaijani presidential election and
its possible impact on the negotiations process, Nalbandyan said that
the negotiations would enter a more active phase after the election
[due on 15 October] and that there would be a possibility to hold a
new meeting.

[Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan, speaking to journalists]
As for the statements that key issues in the Karabakh settlement
have already been agreed upon, I said this before and I would like
to reiterate that the status of Karabakh is the key issue in the
Karabakh conflict settlement that should be settled through a free
expression of the Karabakh people’s will. If opinions are voiced that
the key issues have been settled, then one may conclude that there
is an understanding on this issue.

[Question] Mr Nalbandyan, some analysts say that Armenia is not in
a favourable position at this stage of the negotiations.

[Nalbandyan] I don’t think that those are analyses; they look more
like sick imagination.