NKR PRESIDENT THINKS OSCE MINSK GROUP THE MOST EFFECTIVE IN PEACE DEAL
Panorama.am
16:48 18/09/06
Arkadi Ghukasyan, president of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, told
reporters today NKR authorities think Azerbaijan’s attempt to change
the format of negotiations is a regular propaganda. “I think Azerbaijan
will not reach its aims because its primary goal is to draw mediators’
attention away from the talk process,” Ghukasyan indicated.
In his words, Nagorno Karabakh is ready both for face-to-face talks
with Azerbaijan and for the discussion of relating issues within
international structures. Ghukasyan thinks the talk process is the
most effective in the format of OSCE Minsk Group. In case of slight
destruction from this format, problems are created in the process. “If
we want to regulate the process, we must keep to the present format,”
NKR president said.

NO REAL OPPOSITION IN GEORGIA – ETHNIC ARMENIAN PARTY LEADER
ArmInfo, Armenia
Sept 18 2006
Yerevan, 18 September: “We cannot officially take part in local
government election since the Virk party has not been registered with
the Ministry of Justice,” the leader of the party, which stands for
the ethnic Armenians of the [Javakhetia] region [in Georgia], David
Rstakyan, has told Javakhk-Info news agency.
Despite this, Georgia’s current electoral code is more democratic and
allows the Virk to nominate its candidates in some constituencies in
Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminda, Tsalka, Akhaltsikhe and other districts of
the country.
Describing the current composition of political forces in Georgia,
Rstakyan said: “There is no real opposition in the country although
there are such political parties as the New Right and the Industry
Will Save Georgia party in the parliament along with the governing
National Movement. As for the Justice Party of Igor Giorgadze and
the anti-Soros movement, the president has simply taken care of them.”
Rstakyan said that there is no real opposition in Georgia today.

AZERI LEADER URGES TURKIC STATES TO “START OFFENSIVE” ON ARMENIAN LOBBY
ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
18 Sep 06
[Presenter] All Turkic states led by Turkey and Azerbaijan should start
an offensive on the Armenian lobby. The creation of a second Armenian
state should not be allowed on occupied Azerbaijani territories,
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said at the 10th friendship,
brotherhood and cooperation congress of Turkic states and societies,
which is being held in Turkey’s Antalya. We are now over to Antalya
for more details. Ayaz Nizamioglu, a special ANS correspondent in
Antalya, is on the line. Hi Ayaz.
[Correspondent, by phone] Hello Anar. I want to say that the
Azerbaijani president’s speech at the congress ended approximately
10 minutes ago. He made numerous statements. I want to mention the
first one. He said that all Turkic states led by Turkey and Azerbaijan
should start an offensive on the Armenian lobby and that we would not
allow the creation of a second Armenian state on occupied Azerbaijani
territories. President Aliyev, who is attending the congress, also
said that Armenia and the Armenian lobby supporting it in the world
did not recognize Turkey’s borders and rejected the proposal to open
the archives of the Turkish government. In this way, they want to
introduce the so-called Armenian genocide to the world. In any case,
this will not be allowed and justice will be administered. Therefore,
Turkic states should shift their tactics from defence to attack. The
president added that one of the ways of struggling against the
Armenian lobby was to conduct forums of Turkic-speaking states in
Europe and other regions. This will give the Turkic-speaking states
a chance to fill the world in on their fair positions. The head of
state reiterated that Azerbaijan would liberate its lands from Armenian
occupation in any case and this would happen sooner or later. Touching
on the importance of the event, Aliyev said that relations between
the main leading members of the congress, Turkey and Azerbaijan,
were developing at the highest level and this should serve as an
example to all Turkic states.
Quote – we want the Turkic world to be united. The development of our
ties further strengthens every Turkic state. Our historical roots,
ethnic origin and national traditions draw us closer.
The Azerbaijani president also spoke about the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
[oil] and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum [gas] pipelines and said that they
were the whole Turkic world’s major projects. The Turkic states will
have a say in the world in a clearer and more determined manner with
these projects. At the end of his speech, Aliyev proposed to hold
the next congress of Turkic-speaking states in Azerbaijan.
[Passage omitted: minor details]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EUROPEAN ENVOY IN NK URGES JOINT EFFORT TO FIND MISSING PERSONS
Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian
18 Sep 06
Yerevan, 18 September: The rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe for missing persons, Leo Platvoet, said in
Stepanakert [Xankandi] today that “cooperation between all parties
to the Karabakh conflict in issues concerning missing persons could
be mutually beneficial”.
Platvoet said that all whom he had met in Yerevan, Baku and Stepanakert
spoke out against politicizing this problem and expressed their
readiness to cooperate.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has worked out a special
mechanism to resolve such issues as determining the fate of missing
persons and hostages, finding where they are buried and identifying
human remains, Platvoet said.
“All the sides need to cooperate and refrain from politicizing
humanitarian issues for this mechanism to work,” he stressed.

OBITUARY OF LADY SKIPWITH, WITTY ARMENIAN AUTHOR WHO TRAINED AS A NURSE AND WROTE BOOKS ON EXOTIC COOKERY AND ARABIC PROVERBS
The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
September 18, 2006 Monday
ASHKHAIN, LADY SKIPWITH, who has died aged 64, was the author of
three books on Middle Eastern cuisine and the witty co-author of three
highly-successful books of Arabic proverbs that are widely read with
amusement throughout the Arab-speaking world.
A direct, zesty woman who held strong opinions, she nevertheless
wielded great charm and wit, inspiring love and fear in equal measure.
She was born Ashkhain Bedros Atikian in Jaffa on September 13 1941.
Growing up in Gaza as a member of a close-knit Armenian family born in
Palestine, she considered herself a double-refugee with a heritage of
two historical grievances. As a young woman Ashkhain moved to London
and trained as a nurse at the Whittington Hospital while living in a
bohemian menage at a large house in Blantyre Street, Fulham. It was
there that she met the artist John Bardell, whom she married in 1967.
The couple spent most of their three-year marriage travelling the
world, taking in the Middle East, India, Mexico and Canada, where
Ashkhain took nursing work while her husband painted.
Back in London after her divorce in 1970, Ashkhain worked as a cancer
nurse at the Royal Marsden Hospital and returned to live in Blantyre
Street where, in 1971, she met Sir Patrick Skipwith, the Old Harrovian
scion of an ancient baronetcy. They married the following year.
The Skipwiths moved to Saudi Arabia, driving the several thousand
miles from London to Jeddah in a Volkswagen Beetle car. Sir Patrick
pursued a career as a geologist and, despite Saudi laws forbidding
women to work, Ashkhain took various nursing and secretarial jobs.
She loved knitting, and produced a series of exotic sweaters for
members of her family and friends, based on designs by Patricia
Roberts, the British designer who raised hand knitting to the realms
of high fashion.
Another of her abiding passions was cooking, and Ashkhain – a talented
dinner hostess – collected some 20 Armenian recipes which she published
herself . This was followed by another privately-published book of
Middle Eastern recipes, and finally a third, Saudi Cooking Of Today
(1986), which was published commercially.
Ashkhain’s cookery books broke fresh ground in that they opened a
door to tastes and dishes hitherto largely unknown to Westerners.
Their success encouraged Ashkhain to collaborate with her friend
Primrose Arnander in producing a short series of humorous Arabic
phrase-books. The first, The Son Of A Duck Is A Floater (1985), was
followed by Apricots Tomorrow (1992) and finally Unload Your Own Donkey
(2003).
Ashkhain returned to Britain in 1986 when her second marriage failed,
and resumed her work as a nurse. In the early 1990s she moved to
Canada, shuttling between London and Calgary but only settling
permanently in Alberta in 1996.
She spent the last few years of her life nursing her mother in Calgary.
In November, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and died on August
23 having refused further treatment, a characteristically courageous
decision. She never remarried.

WORRIES GROW ABOUT THE NEXT KONDOPOGA
by Nabi Abdullaev, Staff Writer
The Moscow Times
September 18, 2006 Monday
Stoking fears of escalating xenophobia, a man died in a brawl involving
ethnic Armenians in the Saratov region last week and three people
were hospitalized after an attack on an anti-migration rally in
St. Petersburg on Sunday.
State Duma deputies sounded the alarm about a surge in violence. But
they also approved legislation that would increase penalties for
those who employ illegal migrants — a populist vote, critics said,
that tapped into widespread xenophobia.
The country is on edge after clashes and riots targeting Chechens in
the Karelian town of Kondopoga killed two people earlier this month.
Local residents clashed with four ethnic Armenians in a cafe in the
town of Volsk on Sept. 10, Saratov regional police said Friday. Three
ethnic Russians suffered knife wounds, and one later died in the
hospital.
Police and the local Armenian diaspora downplayed suggestions that
the fight was racially motivated. But Ekho Moskvy radio reported the
fight was followed the next day by an attack on ethnic Armenians at a
Volsk technical college that injured one student. Police denied the
report and said two ethnic Armenians involved in the cafe fight had
been placed on a national wanted list.
On Sunday, masked people attacked a rally by the radical Movement
Against Illegal Immigration in St. Petersburg, sparking a fight that
led to three people being hospitalized, Interfax reported.
About 30 activists were attending the rally to demand the expulsion
of Caucasus natives from Kondopoga, where people raided and destroyed
small businesses run by Caucasus natives after two locals were stabbed
to death in a fight with Chechen migrants.
St. Petersburg police said 21 attackers, who identified themselves
as members of an anti-Nazi movement, were detained, Interfax reported.
One of the victims was stabbed with a knife, while the other two
suffered head injuries. It was unclear whether the victims were
protesters or attackers.
The Movement Against Illegal Immigration also organized a
rally Thursday in Moscow to protest Caucasus natives in Russian
universities. Police tried to prevent the rally by detaining about
200 young men near the Dobryninskaya metro station.
Also Thursday, several dozen young men, some of them described by
witnesses as skinheads, participated in a fight inside the Oktyabrskaya
metro station. No one was detained.
In the Duma on Friday, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party Deputy
Sergei Ivanov likened the situation around the Moscow rally and metro
fight to that in Kondopoga. He said many of those detained at the
rally were carrying knives. As for the metro fight, Ivanov said,
“This was not a routine clash, and it happened in the capital,”
Interfax reported.
United Russia Deputy Alexander Khinshtein deplored a clash between
Chechen youths and police in the city of Saratov on Aug. 29 that
killed one officer and injured three others.
“Police are afraid to bring these people to justice,” he said,
accusing the youths of being “closely related to the Chechen
authorities.” The fight occurred after the officers quarreled with
three Chechen youths in a cafe, Saratov press reported. The three
left the cafe and later returned with a dozen friends, armed with
knives and baseball bats. Three suspects have been detained.
Several nationalist web sites reported Friday that revenge attacks were
being carried out in Volsk after the Sept. 10 fight. A spokesman for
the Saratov regional police, Alexei Yegorov, said police were worried
and had dispatched more street patrols in Volsk. But he denied any
escalation in ethnic tensions. “There have not been any pogroms in
Volsk after that drunken brawl, no friction whatsoever between the
locals and members of the Caucasus diaspora,” he said.
Araik Kosyan, vice president of KRUNK, the biggest Armenian diaspora
organization in the region, said he was not aware of any revenge
attacks. “I’ve talked to representatives of other diasporas, the
Azeris and the Chechens, and they also do not confirm any attacks
against their people,” he said.
Politicians might be overreacting to incidents involving Caucasus
natives after Kondopoga, said Boris Makarenko, an analyst with the
Center for Political Technologies. “Now the voices of the ‘hawks’
will be much better received by the public than those of sober-minded
politicians and media,” he said.
The public seems to be ready for ethnic violence: Over 57 percent of
Russians believe violence could break out in their towns, according
to a survey this month by the state-controlled VTsIOM pollster.
Russians’ belief that their town could be affected grew in proportion
with the size of the town, reaching 89 percent in Moscow and
St. Petersburg.
Human rights activists said the authorities needed to intervene
to prevent routine clashes from escalating into Kondopoga-style
violence. “Authorities need to state clearly that any calls to expel
natives of the Caucasus will never be met because they are against the
law,” said Galina Kozhevnikova of Sova, which tracks ethnic violence.
Alexei Mukhin, an analyst with the Center of Political Information,
suggested that the flare-up in xenophobia might be used by the
government to push through stricter anti-migrant laws.
Indeed, the Duma on Friday voted 398-1 to pass in a first reading a
bill that would fine anyone employing migrants who had not registered
with the Federal Migration Service. Employers now face a flat fine of
2,000 rubles ($74.66), no matter how many illegal migrants are hired.
The new bill says a private individual would face a fine of up to
2,000 rubles per migrant, while an official could be fined 5,000
rubles per migrant and a company could be fined 30,000 rubles per
migrant. Migrants themselves would be fined up to 1,500 rubles and
face expulsion from Russia.
Deputy Interior Minister Nikolai Ovchinnikov, who presented the
bill Friday, said only one in every 10 migrants was registered. Duma
Deputy Speaker Vladimir Katrenko said 702,000 foreign citizens were
registered as of last year.

KONDOPOGA SCENARIO
by Kira Latukhina
RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
September 18, 2006 Monday
New cases of ethnic conflicts registered in the Volga Federal District
Stoking fears of escalating xenophobia, a man died in a brawl
involving ethnic Armenians in the Saratov region last week and three
people were hospitalized after an attack on an anti-migration rally
in St. Petersburg on Sunday. State Duma deputies sounded the alarm
about a surge in violence. But they also approved legislation that
would increase penalties for those who employ illegal migrants –
a populist vote, critics said, that tapped into widespread xenophobia.
The country is on edge after clashes and riots targeting Chechens in
the Karelian town of Kondopoga killed two people earlier this month.
Local residents clashed with four ethnic Armenians in a cafe in the
town of Volsk on Sept. 10, Saratov regional police said Friday. Three
ethnic Russians suffered knife wounds, and one later died in the
hospital. Police and the local Armenian diaspora downplayed suggestions
that the fight was racially motivated. But Ekho Moskvy radio reported
the fight was followed the next day by an attack on ethnic Armenians
at a Volsk technical college that injured one student. Police denied
the report and said two ethnic Armenians involved in the cafe fight
had been placed on a national wanted list.
On Sunday, masked people attacked a rally by the radical Movement
Against Illegal Immigration in St. Petersburg, sparking a fight
that led to three people being hospitalized. About 30 activists were
attending the rally to demand the expulsion of Caucasus natives from
Kondopoga, where people raided and destroyed small businesses run by
Caucasus natives after two locals were stabbed to death in a fight
with Chechen migrants. St. Petersburg police said 21 attackers,
who identified themselves as members of an anti-Nazi movement,
were detained.
One of the victims was stabbed with a knife, while the other two
suffered head injuries. It was unclear whether the victims were
protesters or attackers. The Movement Against Illegal Immigration also
organized a rally Thursday in Moscow to protest Caucasus natives in
Russian universities. Police tried to prevent the rally by detaining
about 200 young men near the Dobryninskaya metro station.
Also Thursday, several dozen young men, some of them described by
witnesses as skinheads, participated in a fight inside the Oktyabrskaya
metro station. No one was detained.

Y. SOYLEMEZ AKP’S LOSS OF APPETITE FOR THE EU
Turkish Daily News
September 18, 2006 Monday
It is now the “secret de Polishinelle” that even the tightlipped EU
bureaucrats cannot hide the public secret that Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government
has lost much of its politically gastronomic choice, which was the
appetite of a “gourmet” only three years ago. There is no denying that
the AKP had previously put the EU question as a first priority goal
in their foreign policy agenda, a pivotal item of declared essence
that is now on a slow fire, to say nothing of the back burner.
The reasons why and how the AKP government has regressed since last
October with no visible implementation or action are quite a few.
Primarily, the European Court of Human Rights headscarf decision
no doubt cast a severe blow to the AKP’s main goal in attaining EU
membership. This was more than a disappointment that backfired. The
EU refused to be used as an instrument against secularist principles.
Secondly, the EU kept on forcing the Cyprus issue as a means of
permanent political pressure over the AKP government, knowing full
well that it was too much too bear for the Erdogan government as no
concessions were possible on their part, or for any Turkish party or
government, for that matter. Thirdly, the important psychological
factor that “the EU does not want Turkey, so we don’t want the EU”
feeling in the body politic became widespread. As expected, support for
the EU has decreased from 78 percent to 54 percent in the time since
Turkey’s candidature was approved and a semblance of negotiations in
the form of the Screening Process started and completed.
In spite of some positive and encouraging statements about the way
the screening process is going on the technical level, the loss of
appetite for the process has been obvious. Those involved in the
process while comparing notes about the acquis were in no way ready
to bind themselves on any issue regarding the future membership. Ali
Babacan, the chief negotiator for Turkey’s EU accession talks was
conspicuous by his absence from Brussels, by not being present at
the scene of activity and decision to canvas and to socialize. This
was naturally interpreted as a tactical display of a lack of interest
and a message that a non-committal attitude had prevailed.
This declining interest, which started at the end of last year,
seems to be of critical importance for Turkey-EU relations. The
process of negotiations may well go off the rails, causing a much
feared “train crash” which is a catastrophic eventuality, mainly due
to the impasse over the Cyprus problem. Ever since Turkey signed the
Additional Protocol last year the EU has been blunt on insisting that
by signing the Additional Protocol Turkey promised to open sea and air
ports to Greek Cyprus and that promise must be kept. That protocol,
though signed on behalf of Turkey, has not yet been submitted to the
Turkish Parliament for ratification, a legal necessity before it can
be adopted. The EU professes to understand Turkey’s predicament and
the fairness of quid pro quo that before this can be done, first and
foremost the isolation of the KKTC must be ended, but the EU is at
the same time unwilling to apply any pressure that this isolation be
ended. Thus there is a dialogue of the deaf but not the dumb. This
all means that the EU and Turkey are about to arrive at a dangerous
juncture in a relationship into which both are locked.
The EU’s Candidate Countries Director-General Pierre Mirel, in a
recent interview with Kriter magazine, analyzed the situation thus,
and I agree with him: “It cannot be denied that there is an impression
that Turkey has lost its excitement, or urge, for the EU.
Turkey does not seem to understand the importance of the Oct. 3,
2005 decision taken under very difficult conditions, in a political
environment that was against the enlargement of the EU. It is very
disappointing to see disinterest rather than an appreciating stand.”
He added that “Turkey seems to be behaving not as a future partner
but as an opposing party.” Indeed an example of this attitude can be
seen in the prime minister’s negative remarks vis-a-vis suspension of
negotiations over the past few months. What now seems a possibility is
that the Free Circulation of Goods, Customs Union and Transportation
chapter may not be opened but instead frozen because of the Cyprus
“Sword of Damocles” during September. This may even be followed at
the beginning of 2007 by suspension of negotiations between Turkey
and the EU.
Dutch rapporteur Camiel Eurlings’ Turkey report will be discussed
in the European Parliament around Sept. 25-28. It is an ice cold
shower for Turkey quite apart from the Cyprus issue. There are 343
motions in the report on matters like women’s rights, the Armenian,
Pontus and Syriac “genocides,” recognition of the rights of Turkish
Alawis and Yezidi minority rights, headscarves should be permitted in
universities (in spite of the Strasbourg ruling), the reopening of the
Greek Orthodox seminary on Heybeliada, as promised a few years ago,
withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus, in addition to the opening
of Turkish Cypriot ports to Greek Cypriots. The report itself is
somewhat self-contradictory, in that the Armenian issue was added at
the last moment, as Eurlings confessed, although it is not something
new in that the European Parliament had already adopted an Armenian
genocide claim in 1987) saying that recognition of genocide should not
be made part of the criteria or preconditions for Turkey’s membership,
but those words of his are not reflected or contained in the report,
which is all the more surprising in view of the fact that Eurlings
is from Holland, 55 percent of whose population supports Turkey’s
candidature while Turkey’s support for its own membership according
to an opinion poll in July 2006 has fallen to 54 percent.
Although Eurlings says that he “wants Turkey’s membership to the EU
with all his heart and mind as an important alternative for Turkey”
his report does not reflect any positive thinking. Even so, his
report must be taken seriously because it reflects the general lack
of interest in Turkey’s membership not only by Turkey but by the
major political groups in the EU Parliament. Sadly, such a negative
report that has been described in the Western media variously as a
warning or even a slap, will not be conducive to more cooperation
but rather help further estrangement and lack of trust for the future
between Turkey and the European Union. This report is a wake up call
heralding a serious crisis that can either lead to a calamity or in
the famous words of Laurens Van der Post instead be an opportunity
for both sides to use the sword of Alexander to cut the Gordion Knot.

INTERNATIONAL OIL COMPANIES WILL NEVER BOYCOTT IRAN OIL, CHIEF SAYS
Mehr News Agency, Iran
Sept 18 2006
Tehran, 18 September: There is no economic sanction at sight, and
the international oil companies will cooperate with Iran under any
condition, said the managing director of National Iranian Oil Company
(NIOC) here on Monday.
Gholamhoseyn Nowzari made the remarks during a ceremony held to sign
an oil and gas exploration contract with the Norwegian Hydro Zagros
Company in Khorramabad oil block. A number of major international
oil companies including the French giant oil company Total and Eni
of Italy have announced readiness to cooperate with Iran.
Referring to the deadline set for the Japanese company INPEX at
Azadegan oilfield, Nowzari told reporters that Iran-Japan relations,
prioritizing the development of Azadegan oilfield with the Japanese
oil firm and Iran’s trust for intentional contracts, are all the
reasons that justify granting an opening to the Japanese company.
Nowzari also stated that the Master Development Plan (MDP) has been
prepared for purchasing required goods and equipments. The NIOC has
set September 30, 2006, as the not extendable deadline for the INPEX
to start operations in Azadegan oilfield; otherwise, the contract
will be considered null and void and Iran will pay some money to
INPEX for what has been already done.
As for Iran’s oil exports to Armenia, Nowzari said that Iran will
sell oil to any country who pays more for Iran’s oil.
In order to accelerate implementation of projects in the nation’s
oil and gas fields, NIOC has set a time limit for foreign companies
to accomplish the task. If the foreign company fails to take any
operation within the stipulated time limit, we will start cooperation
with other contractors.

ARMENIA BROADENING ITS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS-KOCHARYAN
by Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 18, 2006 Monday 05:42 AM EST
The Republic of Armenia “is broadening its international relations
and, at the same time, consolidating its contacts with the traditional
friends. Armenia is continuing its policy of mutual supplementation
in the sphere of foreign policy,” President Robert Kocharyan stated
here on Monday, opening the third “Armenia-Diaspora” forum.
“Several large-scale mutually profitable economic programs were
launched jointly with the Russian Federation and military-political
cooperation between the two countries is being deepened,” Kocharyan
noted.
“Several large infra-structural programs have been drawn up with
Iran, which is our neighbour. Stable and effective relations have
been established with it,” the president said, having in view, in
particular, the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia.
“At the same time, Armenia is taking active steps to promote its
relations with the European Union. The drafting of the document on ‘The
New European Neighbourhood’ is all but completed,” Kocharyan stated.
“Agreement has been reached on Armenia’s individual partnership
with the North Atlantic Alliance and it is already in the process
of implementation,” the president noted. He recalled that bilateral
military cooperation between Armenia and the United States was growing
in the context of the international fight against terrorism”. “The
Armenian army is taking part in the peace-making operations in Iraq
and Kosovo,” he added.
“We are making all the decisions on the most acute international
problems with due account of the interests of our diaspora,” Kocharyan
assured the forum.
Touching on the Nagorny Karabakh problem, he said the republic’s
international recognition should be regarded as Armenia’s national
super-task No. 1.
“Implementation of all the Armenian efforts to achieve an international
recognition of the Nagorny Karabakh Republic should be regarded as
our national super-task No. 1,” he stressed.
“The existence of the Nagorny Karabakh Republic is an undisputable
fact and its organisational foundations are faultless,” the president
believes. The Karabakh economy is steadily developing and the
democratic reforms are making increasing headway in the republic.
“The Nagorny Karabakh people have, in fact, implemented and defended
their right to self-determination and are now in the effective process
of building up their statehood,” Kocharyan stated. “Nobody in Karabakh
wants to give up these achievements,” he added.
The process of negotiations on the Karabakh settlement “has had its
ups and downs. There were several times when we were close to the
conclusion of an agreement, stipulating the right of the Nagorny
Karabakh people to a free life. “Unfortunately, we were unable to
achieve this end,” Kocharyan stressed.