ARMENIAN FM SAYS THIS YEAR PROGRESS HAS BEEN REGISTERED IN KARABAKH CONFLICT REGULATION PROCESS

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS:The negotiations over Nagorno Karabakh will resume in late January of 2007, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told today at a press conference, adding that after the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents on November 28 in Minsk the parties need to think. According to him, the issues on the table of negotiations are difficult and the parties must think thoroughly over them. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs suggested the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers to meet in late January but the concrete time has not yet been specified. According to Oskanian, there exists essential difference between the beginning of the 2006 and the end of it. “A sensible progress has been registered during this year,” he said. Commenting on the statement of the Armenian President Robert Kocharian that the negotiations will be more passive until the parliamentary elections, the minister said Kocharian meant that the frequency of meetings and the number of publications will decrease but in respect of content nothing will harm the process and it will continue on the level of foreign ministers. Referring to the statements of international organizations over the Karabakh referendum, Oskanian said that the expressed concern is not understandable as the referendum cannot have negative impact on the process of negotiations. “These organizations must have avoided giving such assessment. By it Karabakh people regulate their legislative field, coordinate laws created during the 15 years and this should have been assessed positively,” the minister said.