Armenia to quit Karabakh talks if UN adopts pro-Azeri resolution

Arminfo
4 Dec 04

YEREVAN

If the UN adopts the draft resolution [on the situation in
Azerbaijan’s occupied territories], Armenia will not participate in
the negotiations individually and will demand that Nagornyy Karabakh
join the talks, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has told
Armenia’s Kentron TV.

It is because [if the UN adopts the draft] the issue will go beyond
the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and in that case, Armenia will
not be able to conduct any talks individually, Oskanyan said. He added
that the Minsk Group co-chairs in fact recognize Nagornyy Karabakh as
a side to the conflict and that this is obvious from the fact that the
co-chairs go to Nagornyy Karabakh during their every visit to the
region.

Oskanyan said that if Armenia had not assumed the role of a
negotiating side when Azerbaijan refused to start negotiations with
Nagornyy Karabakh, there would have been no talks. He believes that
Armenia’s participation in the negotiations is right. “It is also
right that [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan is conducting these
talks,” the minister added.

Talking about the consequences of the UN resolution on this issue, the
foreign minister said that if the resolution is adopted, Armenia will
really abandon the bilateral negotiations.

“If Azerbaijan agrees to Arkadiy Gukasyan’s [president of the
self-styled Nagornyy Karabakh republic] joining the talks, we will
continue. If not, responsibility will lie with them,” he said, adding
that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have already expressed their
concern over the issue.

Oskanyan said that in this case, the issue of negotiations between
Azerbaijan and Nagornyy Karabakh will be raised openly. Armenia can
play only the role of a guarantor in this case.

“We will raise the issue from the angle of 1992 in order to better
inform the international community of the real causes of the current
situation,” Oskanyan said, adding that the issue of Nagornyy
Karabakh’s self-determination will be seriously raised in the end.