Armenian President, Dashnaks discuss Karabakh peace process

Robert Kocharian met with Vahan Hovannisian and other leading members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-- Dashnaktsutiun (HHD) on 19 February to discuss ongoing diplomatic efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict and the overall political and economic situation, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. At the close of its congress earlier this month, the HHD had warned against a solution to the conflict that would entail concessions from Armenia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 February 2000). In an interview published in "Iravunk" on 17 February, Hovannisian stated that none of the peace proposals advocated to date by the OSCE Minsk Group is acceptable to his party. He termed recent developments in the peace process "very dangerous," and argued that Armenia should not engage in further talks on resolving the conflict until it has made progress toward resolving economic and domestic political problems. LF