Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian says upcoming talks in Geneva should cause "a positive shift" toward settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported.

"I believe that presently perhaps the most acceptable way would be if Nagorno Karabakh appeared under the aegis of the EU until the resolution of the conflict (up to a referendum on the status of Nagorno Karabakh). Nagorno Karabakh, historic Armenian territory disputed with Azerbaijan, would become a special area of the EU where the laws of the EU would be valid," said Hrant Melkumian, the leader of the Communist Party of Artsakh in commenting on the recent developments.

In 2006 significant progress was achieved in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict peaceful settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow December 20. "Establishing forecasts is ungrateful.

Expressing opinion concerning the international response to the constitutional referendum in Nagorno Karabakh, Serge Sargsian, Armenian Defence Minister, said that an impression is shaped that a the leadership of number of international structures misunderstand.

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby, who is on a regional visit in Armenia, held a meeting with the Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady Ghukasian December 17.

Today RA President Robert Kocharyan issued a congratulating address to NKR authorities and people on the occasion of the adoption of Constitution through a nationwide referendum.

The minibuses of Stepanakert are a rolling introduction to the cozy capital of Nagorno Karabakh. For 50 drams (about 15 cents), a visiting passenger learns the town of about 50,000 in no more than the 15 minutes it takes to cross it. She learns, too, the city residents, in bits of conversations caught between stops.