YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan) — "Any idea promoting the consolidation of peace and stability in the Caucasus should only be hailed," Ashot Goulakian–head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s delegation–said commenting on the Caucasus Regional Students Conference held in Tsakhkadzor–Armenia.
Goulakian said that measures aimed at establishing peace and stability in the region would fail unless the views of all parties to the conflict were taken into account.
He also said he was hopeful that the new dialogue between all parties would establish mutual understanding and stability in the region.
Alan Parastayev–a member of the South Ossetian delegation–said that hostilities in the region are presently at a stand still–however–any unreasonable action may cause problems. Parastayev said that Caucasian countries should forget about their differences for a while and try to cooperate. This is the only way their conflicts can be settled–he added.
Representative of the Russian delegation–Mitrokhin–who is a member of the "Yabloko" parliamentary faction–said that it was in Russia’s interests that peace and stability are established in the region as soon as possible.
Similar conferences have already been held in the region–however they were attended only by delegations of Azerbaijan–Georgia and Armenia. This time the conference was attended by a greater number of delegations–such as Abkhazia–South Ossetia–Nagorno-Karabakh and Chechnya. However–representatives of Azerbaijan–Turkey and Georgia did not attend the conference–purportedly due to financial constraints.
