Press Conference in Armenia

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Good afternoon. I can't tell you how excited I am to be back in Armenia after an absence of 12 years. Your memories are perhaps dim, but the last time I was here was 12 years ago, in the winter of ’92, no power, no electricity, no trees, because they had been cut down for fuel. And to see what the courage and the determination of the people of Armenia have done is, for me, extraordinarily heartening. I have come here today, sent by the President and the Secretary of State, for the following reason. It's undeniable that the United States has been quite busy of late with things such as Afghanistan, such as Iraq, such as the global war on terror. But we wanted to make the point that we have interest in the Caucasus, we wanted to make the point that Armenia is extraordinarily important to the United States, and I am here to try to reinvigorate political talks between the United States and Armenia. We wanted to expose the Foreign Minister and, just now, the President of Armenia, to our thinking on regional and global issues, and, equally important, to receive from the Foreign Minister and from the President the appreciation of Armenia for global issues and regional issues. So, I am delighted with the time I have had with the Foreign Minister and with the President. I'll let them speak for themselves if they are delighted or not. I hope they are. And, I'll be ready to answer your questions please.

QUESTION: De Facto Agency. Why specifically Kiev, Yerevan and Baku? Was there a reason behind the selection of these cities?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Yes, there is. In Kiev, I had a message about the upcoming elections in October, and I hope that those elections would be free, fair, open and democratic. We have had recent discussions with officials in Georgia, there was no need to go there. We thought that we had been missing a bit of interaction with Armenia, so I wanted to stop here. And, obviously, because of our interest in everything from PfP to a resolution of Nagorno Karabakh, I will go on and have discussions in Baku as well.

QUESTION: Public TV: Would you please comment on President Aliyev’s statement that the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia would prevent or hinder the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict?

It seems to me that President Aliyev will have to describe and explain his own statement. But it seems to me that the opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey would benefit the peoples of both sides rather dramatically and relatively quickly. We’ve had those discussions with our friends in Turkey. I think to be fair, our Turkish friends have had their hands full recently with concerns about Northern Iraq and the ongoing Cyprus talks, but I hope as those concerns are ameliorated that they will be able to turn their attention to the reopening of the border.

QUESTION: Mediamax agency: Three years ago your country hosted peace talks between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan that took place in Key West. The US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group, Ambassador Rudolf Perrina, stated that the sides were very close to the signing of peace. However, the President of Azerbaijan denies that there was any agreement reached, and does not want to start the negotiations on that basis. Why doesn't the United States support the Key West agreements?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: I was involved, from the outside, in the agreements in Key West. Their then President, Heidar Aliyev, was actually moving forward quite well, but I think, as I recall, he had great difficulty in selling this proposal back home. So, I would dispute the statement that agreements were reached. I think there was great progress, but they didn’t quite have agreements. And I would say that the solution to the question of Nagorno Karabakh is not one that can be imposed top-down, from the outside, and shouldn’t be. The resolution to this question should be between the two parties, and the Minsk co-chairs, of which we are proud to be a member, should be facilitators. And I hope that the two sides will seat down under the aegis of the Minsk co-chairs in the very near future to get to work on this.

QUESTION: The Azeri authorities have been openly critical of the OSCE Minsk Group, and one of the indications of this was that they refused to participate in the March 29 meeting between the Armenian and Azeri Foreign Ministers in Prague. What can you say about this?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: As I just said, we are proud to be one of the co-chairs in the Minsk Group, and we hope that the two sides will sit down in the very near future to start resolving these issues, discussing these issues. What happened in Prague, or didn’t happen in Prague, is water over the dam. I am just going to look forward, and as I said, we look forward to a rapid resumption of talks.

QUESTION: The Government of the Republic of Armenia has often talked about the high priority of Armenia’s relations with the United States. In your view, what is the current state of relations with the United States, particularly economic relations?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Economically, it looks to me like there are a large number of firms here and in the United States. The economic reforms that have been introduced here certainly have a large effect, especially in the macro-economic area, and soon it will be translated down, I think, to the micro-economic area. It looks to me like, if border issues etc., can be resolved, that Armenia would be a pretty good place to do business. In terms of our governmental assistance here, you know that Armenia is, per capita, the largest recipient of our assistance, governmental assistance in the NIS.

QUESTION: The President of Armenia has always supported economic cooperation in the region, which would help resolve other issues. Recently, President Mikhail Sahakashvili of Georgia also spoke in favor of economic cooperation. But the Azeri authorities are against this, thinking that resolution of political issues should come first. In the US view, what should come first – economic cooperation or resolution of political problems?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: As a practical matter, it is not possible to have long-term beneficial relationships across the board, unless there is some resolution to political issues that are between the two states. But, in a way, economic cooperation has its own rhythm and its own logic, and people begin to speak with their own business activities. And, over time, that affects the ability of nations to resolve difficult political issues. So, I don't think it is the case of which one absolutely comes first. I think they kind of work a little bit in tandem.

QUESTION: Radio Liberty: Have you discussed the issue of balancing the US military assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan? If yes, what was the outcome of that discussion?