YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian met on Tuesday with the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) rapporteur on Mountainous Karabagh Terry Davis–to discuss Mountainous Karabagh. The only detail released by Kocharian’s press office was that the president presented Armenia’s official view on the regulation process.
As a part of his visit to the region–Davis was in Mountainous Karabagh Republic (MKR) on Monday–and met with President Arkady Ghukassian–speaker of parliament Oleg Yesayan–as well as parliament representatives.
He told reporters that his mission is not to mediate–but to prepare a report on the conflict. Davis stressed Council of Europe’s (CE) interest in Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s commitmen’s before the CE to regulate the conflict peacefully.
Citing Yugoslavia–he stressed that until now–the CE has neglected involvement in certain regional conflicts–but considering that European structures have developed interest in the stability of the South Caucasus which form a part of Europe–the regulation of the Karabagh conflict gives hope for stability in Armenian–Azerbaijan–and Georgia.
Davis refrained from commenting on the democratic process underway in Mountainous Karabagh–saying that details will be included in his report.
Karabagh President Ghukassian indicated that Davis’s visit served to clarify MKR’s immediate position and approaches on regulation–in that MKR adheres to a negotiation process–absent of preconditions.
Davis also met in Shushi with refugees from Getashen and Shahumian who provided information on some 700 Armenia’s taken hostages from 1991to 1992–and are presently in prisoner-of-war camps in an Azeri province. Expressing concern over their condition and fate–he vowed to confirm the information with international organizations and Azerbaijan’s leadership.