During the joint press conference on Friday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan clarified the announcement that he had recently made at the OSCE, according to which the sides are rather close to reaching success in the Karabagh conflict settlement.
“If we compare the document with the previous documents, this is more real in the sense of the approval of both sides because it is more balanced, and that is a correct balance. I said that at the OSCE, basing on the current negotiations process and the context of the document, not on the wishes of the sides,” said Oskanyan, assuring that there has already been an agreement made on the main part of the issues. He also mentioned that he and the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister were transferring the proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group to the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents and “only after the positions of the presidents are known will it be clear if we are moving forward or not.” In fact, Oskanyan also informed on Friday that there is still no agreement for the timing of the subsequent meeting, but it is not excluded that the co-presidents meet with the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers before May 12. After May 12 the co-presidents will visit the region and prepare the presidents for the next meeting.
As far as the pre-election campaign is concerned, V. Oskanyan said that he is content with the fact that the political parties are not speculating on the Karabagh conflict during their campaigns. He also noted that the speculation of that issue is not suitable for the pre-election period because “the parliament is not really involved in the negotiations and we are not in a stage to say that we have affirmed something and must leave it up to the parliament to decide.”