June 22, 2004 - 18:42 AMT
VARDAN OSKANIAN: TALKS OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI FOREIGN MINISTERS USEFUL AND WILL BE CONTINUED
Talks between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan over settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict will be continued, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian told Liberty radio station when commenting on the recurrent round of negotiations with his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov. It should be reminded that the talks were held under the aegis and with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and were close for the press as usual. "I positively evaluate the general course of the talks. The process is useful and will be continued," V. Oskanian said. In response to the radio station correspondent mentioning E. Mamedyarov's statement on the working out of a third option of conflict settlement, including acceptable elements of the "package" and "stepwise" versions, the head of the Armenian Foreign Minister said he did not rule out such an opportunity. "The course and the character of our talks result in synthesis of two different positions," he said. At that the Minister emphasized that the status of Nagorno Karabakh should become the core of any option of conflict settlement. At that the Armenian Foreign Minister dined reports of a range of media that pressure is put on Armenia by the OSCE Minsk Group in the person of US Co-Chair Steven Mann for returning territories to Azerbaijan in exchange for Baku-Yerevan rail communication. "There are no such manifestations in the course of our talks. There are no concrete proposals - only general discussions. At the moment no pressure is felt on any of the parties," V. Oskanian said.