Karabakh’s security important to OSCE – Armenian MP
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
12 Jul 04
The Armenian deputy speaker has said that the OSCE is in favour of
ensuring Nagornyy Karabakh’s security. According to Vaan Ovanesyan,
the special representative of the OSCE for the Karabakh problem, Goran
Lennmarker, does not see Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan and his report
on the conflict settlement does not mention Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. Nor does the report contain any mechanisms for settling the
conflict, he said. The following is the text of report by Armenian
Public TV on 12 July:
[Presenter] The special representative of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly on Nagornyy Karabakh, Goran Lennmarker, attaches great
importance to the security of Karabakh. The deputy speaker of the
Armenian National Assembly, Vaan Ovanesyan, today denied reports that
the special representative of the OSCE for the Karabakh problem had
spoken about the return of the occupied [Azerbaijani] territories. On
the contrary, Vaan Ovanesyan said, the Azerbaijanis were seriously
dissatisfied with the document which did not point to Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, did not mention the Artsakh [Karabakh] problem
and attached great importance to the security of Nagornyy Karabakh.
[Correspondent over video of meeting] Mr Lennmarker, the special
representative of the OSCE for Nagornyy Karabakh, asked not to
publicize the contents of his report, as it is still a draft. Vaan
Ovanesyan said that this document does not put forward any settlement
mechanisms. As some Armenian media representatives said, commenting on
the return of the occupied territories, Vaan Ovanesyan added that the
document says all the occupied territories must be liberated and
cleared from the land mines for future resettlement. But it does not
say who the occupied territories belong to.
[Vaan Ovanesyan] There are many documents which speak about the
territories occupied by Azerbaijan. There is nothing about the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan there.
Second, the document does not speak about the administrative return of
the territory, it applies only to the conflict settlement.
Third, the document does not say who has occupied the territories. We
tried to clarify this in the presence of Azerbaijani MPs and asked Mr
Lennmarker whether the expression “occupied territories” implies
villages occupied by Azerbaijan, for example, Shaumyan [Goranboy
District], Mardakert [Agdara] and part of Martuni [Xocavand] occupied
by Azerbaijan. Mr Lennmarker said yes.
[Correspondent] In his report, Mr Lennmarker suggested setting up a
reconciliation commission which would include representatives of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani sides. As for the refugees, it was noted
without repeatedly mentioning the territories that they must be
granted the right to return home if they wish and get back their
lands.
[Vaan Ovanesyan] The document does not mention the territories we are
always concerned about – Shusha [Susa], Lachin [Lacin] and other
territories which are of strategic importance.
[Correspondent] The main section of the document, which is the most
important to us, is that the security of Nagornyy Karabakh must be
ensured.
[Vaan Ovanesyan] Lennmarker did not mention the settlement [of the
Karabakh conflict], which is important to us. He does not see Karabakh
as part of Azerbaijan. In general, he did not mention the issue of its
status. Irrespective of the final settlement, the security of Karabakh
must be ensured. This is the main point of the document signed by all
the factions of the previous National Assembly, which is the main
guarantee for the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.
The Azerbaijanis were dissatisfied that the document did not mention
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
Tatevik Nalbandyan for “Aylur”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress