Armenian foreign minister upbeat about Karabakh talks

Armenian foreign minister upbeat about Karabakh talks

Noyan Tapan news agency
20 Jun 05

YEREVAN

The next visit by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the region is
expected in mid-June, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told a
press conference on 20 June.

The minister said that the latest meeting between Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents in Warsaw was a step forward in settling the
Karabakh conflict. The presidents instructed their foreign ministers
to build on that, however, “we have not managed to do it in Paris but
we found commonalties”. Oskanyan does not doubt that “the talks
between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will go in a
positive direction”.

The minister reiterated that a series of issues, including the issues
of refugees and Nagornyy Karabakh’s security, were on the agenda of
the negotiations. In the meantime, Oskanyan said that the issue of
Nagornyy Karabakh’s political status was the most important one to
Armenia. As for the deployment of peacekeepers in the conflict region,
the minister said: “It is too early to speak about the deployment of
foreign peacekeepers, there are more pressing issues to deal with.”

[Passage omitted: repeat of earlier items and hails parliamentary
polls in Karabakh]