MAJORITY OF KARABAKH POPULATION FOR PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICTDecember 24, 2003 - 23:51 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The majority of the population of Nagorno Karabakh is for peaceful political settlement of the Karabakh conflict, say the results of a survey held by the Stepanakert Press Club along with the Yerevan Center for Social Technologies with the support of the Fridrich Ebert Fund. As reported by "Arminfo" agency, 1000 respondents, of which 500 from Stepanakert and 500 - from various regions of the republic, participated in the survey. The overwhelming majority of the interviewees consider that the solution of the problem relates to the international recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR). As in previous surveys, Karabakh people consider an acceptable status for the NKR to be a sovereign state (44.9%) or reunion with Armenia (48.3%). At that any version of staying part of Azerbaijan is denied, including the one "with highest autonomy." The survey participants consider trilateral negotiations between Yerevan, Baku and Stepanakert (41.3%) to be the most fruitful format of negotiations. At the same time some respondents do not pin much hope on direct talks between Baku and Stepanakert (9.8%). 52.8% of respondents do not consider solution of the problem via exchange of territories acceptable, while 16.5% approve of it. 6.2% of interviewees believe in the soonest settlement of the conflict, while 24.8% think the issue will be solved later. Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | Lemkin Institute petition seeks release of Armenians in Azerbaijan The Lemkin Institute is deeply concerned about the continued illegal detention of political prisoners from Karabakh in Azerbaijan. Armenian Catholicos calls for national unity against threats Karekin II issued a message on Republic Day marking the anniversary of the First Armenian Republic. Opposition leader, supporters spend night at Sardarapat memorial Police made nearly 300 arrests the day before as Galstanyan and his supporters continued to demonstrate in Yerevan. Armenia designates flood-hit communities as disaster areas The emergency situation was created by floods caused by heavy rains in Armenia’s north on May 25-26. |