The visit

A U.S. Congressional delegation headed by Adam Schiff met in Yerevan on 22 August with Armenian President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, and parliament deputy speaker Gagik Aslanian. Topics discussed included the Armenian genocide and the current state of Armenian-Turkish relations, the Karabakh conflict, and Armenian-U.S. relations. Kocharian again expressed his desire to begin an Armenian-Turkish dialogue at the state level. He also predicted that Armenia will become "the best-organized and most stable country in the region," according to Noyan Tapan. Schiff for his part expressed reservations over the recently created Armenian-Turkish reconciliation commission, especially the choice of its Armenian members. He said he considers it regrettable that the commission will not address the issue of the 1915 genocide.