ArmenPress
July 21 2004

REPUBLICAN PARTY OFFICIAL UNVEILS POSITION ON KARABAGH REGULATION

YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS: A senior member of the Republican
Party of prime minister Andranik Margarian, which is a member of the
ruling coalition, unveiled today the party’s stance on how the
long-running Armenian-Azeri dispute over Nagorno Karabagh must be
resolved, saying it must either join Armenia or become an independent
state. Speaking at public debates on the Karabagh, Gagik Minasian,
the chairman of a parliament committee on finance and budget issues,
said Karabagh must have an overland border with Armenia, adding also
that the Republican Party is strongly opposed to any resolution
formula that would call for land swaps between Armenia and
Azerbaijan.
Minasian who was recently in Nagorno Karabagh, said people, who
resettled there are engaged in construction of schools, roads and
houses. He said the August 8 elections to local self-management
bodies is another evidence of “normal life” in Karabagh. Minasian
then praised a former advisor to Azeri president, Vafa Guluzade, who
said recently that in the event of failing to take Karabagh back
Azerbaijan will have to put with the fact that Karabagh and Lachin
corridor, ensuring overland connection with Armenia, will go under
Armenia’s rule. According to Minasian, it could serve as a good basis
for negotiations. “The return of all territories controlled now by
Armenian troops is excluded,” Minasian said, but added that the
resolution could be based on a compromise formula.
He then argued in favor of negotiations between Azerbaijan and
Karabagh authorities and declined a widely circulated views of the
OSCE mediators that the public in two countries was not prepared for
a solution two years ago, while the presidents were, saying it is not
true.