The report of the Fact Finding Mission on Settlements in Territories Surrounding Nagorno Karabakh was to become available to the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan during their mid-March Prague meeting.

Armenia's Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian did not attend the meeting, due to ill health. However, he became acquainted with the report in Yerevan, at the same time as the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister was reading it in the Czech capital.

In mid-March, the OSCE Fact Finding Mission Report will be submitted to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.

" Although we are aware of the content of the document, we will withhold comment until after the document has been officially submitted to the OSCE Permanent Council in March," said Foreign Minister Oskanian at a press conference, on Wednesday, March 9.

" We would, nonetheless, like to remind you of the allegations made by Azerbaijan, which were in effect the cause of the Fact Finding Mission.
According to various Azerbaijani statements over the last several months, they had claimed massive systematic settlement was taking place in the territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan claimed that upwards of 30,000 people had already been settled in these areas. They also said that the Armenian government was behind the settlements. And that the settlers were primarily from Armenia and the Diaspora.
«We think that the OSCE Fact Finding Mission report will present a true picture of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh," concluded the Minister.