ACCORDING TO MARIE YOVANOVITCH, U.S. THINKS WHETHER OSCE MINSK GROUP REMAINS VIABLE

Noyan Tapan
Oct 27, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The "football" diplomacy initiated
by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is the evidence of the fact that
Armenia keeps to the positions of peace and cooperation in the South
Caucasian region. Artur Baghdasarian, the Secretary of the RA National
Security Council, stated at the October 27 international conference
organized in Yerevan. According to him, the RA authorities consider
that when looking for a solution to any issue they should take the
way of a dialogue.

Marie Yovanovitch, the Ambassador of the U.S. to RA, in her turn,
said that by Turkish President’s visit to Yerevan on September 6
"indeed a brave, a very strong step" was taken. "It can be compared
with the warming of American-Chinese relations in the 1970-s," the
Ambassador added. According to M. Yovanovitch, it is obvious that
there is also certain progress in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement,
in particular, the sides speak about a concrete document. However, as
she mentioned, the U.S. thinks "whether the OSCE Minsk Group remains
viable, is it worthy continuing the negotiations by the very format."

According to the estimation of Peter Semneby, the EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus, the South Caucasian region is
of much importance for EU. Touching upon Armenian-Turkish relations,
he said that the opening of the general border of Armenia and Turkey
will have a positive significance for both countries. P. Semneby also
stated that EU defends the activity of the Minsk Group and strives
for persuading the conflict sides to come to an agreement.