TALKS WITHOUT KARABAKH
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
17 Dec 04
The foreign minister of Armenia returned from the 12th meeting of
the OSCE Ministerial Council in Bulgaria. On December 14 the foreign
minister met with journalists and commented on his visits to Sofia
and Brussels. In Sofia the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council
and in Brussels the meeting of foreign minister of Euro-Atlantic
Partnership took place. Vardan Oskanian said four main topics were
discussed during the meetings: the question of the OSCE reforms,
EU â~@~S Armenia relationships within the framework of the program
â~@~New Neighboursâ~@~] , initiation of the negotiations for
Turkeyâ~@~Ys membership to the EU and the problems connected
with Armenia, and finally the regulation of the Nagorni Karabakh
conflict. During the press conference Vardan Oskanian dwelled on the
latter two. In reference to the process of regulation of the Karabakh
conflict the minister of foreign affairs of Armenia emphasized that
the decision of the OSCE ministers on the regulation of the Nagorni
Karabakh conflict was the only one in reference to which a consensus
was reached. Assessing the current situation with â~@~careful
optimismâ~@~] Vardan Oskanian said, â~@~Owing to the effective
intervention of the Minsk Group and cooperation with Azerbaijan
we managed to eliminate the obstacles for negotiations resulting
from the Prague process.â~@~] After the meetings of the foreign
ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Sofia and Brussels actually
it was decided to resume the meetings in Prague but the minister
could not answer when exactly the next meeting would take place.
â~@~It is difficult to mention a definite time but probably at
the beginning of the upcoming year we will start a new round of
negotiations in Prague on the level of foreign ministers.â~@~] Vardan
Oskanian did not give a definite answer whether the negotiations will
be resumed at the point where they were stopped. He mentioned that
the standpoint of Armenia did not change. â~@~What we have today in
the common framework is enough to continue the talks.â~@~] According
to him, the talks will continue without the participation of Nagorni
Karabakh. One of the journalists asked whether Vardan Oskanian denied
the news circulated by the Azerbaijani press that the Nagorni Karabakh
issue will be settled stage by stage and the foreign minister again
gave an evasive answer. According to him, the negotiations are held
in two directions: the one is what goes on in fact and the other is
what is presented to public. â~@~I do not want to pay attention to
what the Azerbaijani side offers to public. All that is discussed
creates a common framework for continuing the negotiations. Today
there are two processes going on: the real negotiations and what
public is told about them. I prefer focusing on the content of the
talks,â~@~] said the foreign minister of Armenia. During the press
conference Vardan Oskanian mentioned the important role of press in
the regulation process and particularly complained of the Armenian
press. According to him, today it is difficult to guess whether the
Armenian society supports the gradual, package or even a third type
of solution. Therefore the minister suggests looking for the golden
middle from the point of view of the question settlement. Presently,
according to the foreign minister, â~@~all of us are seeking for a
settlement which will not damage our national interests, weaken Armenia
and waste the achievements of NKR. We must see which settlement is
in accordance with our interests, which is possible and what is not,
what we lose or win, which the golden middle is.â~@~] He especially
pointed out that correct, balanced approaches may be born only in the
result of healthy debates, which will be of help for our government.
CHRISTINE MNATSAKANIAN.
17-12-2004
–Boundary_(ID_IpqdalDmq0DAw7nUb9XPQQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress