SITUATION OF KARABAKH PROBLEM

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
27 Nov 04

The leader of the NKR parliament faction of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Vahram Balayan addressed Ashot Ghulian with the request
to provide information on the recent developments in the negotiation
process for the Karabakh settlement, and particularly the draft report
of David Atkinson in the PACE and the discussion of the situation of
the occupied Azerbaijani territories at the UN. The foreign minister
pointed out that recently, in fact, there has been certain activity in
reference to the Karabakh problem. However, the discussion has nothing
to do with the negotiation process. It is the right of the OSCE Minsk
Group. Ashot Ghulian characterized the efforts of Azerbaijan to have
the Karabakh problem discussed in international organizations as
attempts to mislead the process of settlement. “Countries related to
neither the OSCE Minsk Group, nor the Karabakh confrontation do not
approve of Azerbaijan’s attempts,” mentioned the minister. Touching
upon the discussions at the UN General Assembly A. Ghulian mentioned
that the discussions which started on November 23 were postponed
to the next day, probably by Azerbaijan’s undertaking, which doubts
whether it will manage to receive the necessary number of votes for
passing the resolution. “If, nevertheless, the resolution is passed,
it will mean that the Azerbaijani propaganda has managed to mislead
the negotiation process. Azerbaijan resorts to a similar policy when
concrete arrangements are concerned,” said Ashot Ghulian. In answer to
the question of member of parliament Levon Hayrian what the attitude
of the foreign minister is towards Karabakh’s not participating in the
negotiation process, the foreign minister mentioned that without the
participation of Karabakh the process of negotiations is meaningless,
and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen unambiguously announced about
this. The problem is that today there is no negotiation process,
there are only consultations on negotiations.

AA. 27-11-2004