Armenian deputy speaker says Karabakh’s status most important in talks

Arminfo, Yerevan
21 Mar 05

Yerevan, 21 March: The final version of the report by the special
representative of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly [OSCE PA], Goran
Lennmarker, on Nagornyy Karabakh will be submitted to the Armenian
and Azerbaijani MPs in Vienna by the July session of the OSCE PA in
Washington, the deputy speaker of the Armenian National Assembly and
the head of the Armenian delegation to the OSCE PA, Vaan Ovanesyan,
has told a news conference on the results of the meeting between
Armenian and Azerbaijani MPs in Brussels on 17-18 March.

He said that during the meeting, the deputies of the two countries
would familiarize themselves with the final version of the report and
put forward their suggestions. Vaan Ovanesyan said the Azerbaijani
MPs insisted on holding the meeting in London, but the suggestion
was rejected.

“Perhaps, our Azerbaijani colleagues were hoping that if the meeting
was held in London, it would be attended by the author of the PACE
[Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] resolution on
Nagornyy Karabakh, David Atkinson, because they are trying to include
some parts of his report in the document being prepared by Goran
Lennmarker,” the deputy speaker said.

He added that after Goran Lennmarker’s report on Nagornyy Karabakh, the
OSCE PA could adopt a resolution which, just as all the other documents
of international parliamentary organizations, will be of a consultative
nature. At the same time, the head of the Armenian delegation said
if the OSCE PA document is similar to the PACE resolution on Nagornyy
Karabakh, it may have bitter ramifications for the Armenian side.

“One negative document may remain without implications for us, but
not two,” he stressed.

The deputy speaker expressed his confidence that Goran Lennmarker’s
report would contain a provision saying that the issue of Nagornyy
Karabakh’s status is of priority importance in the Nagornyy Karabakh
settlement process, while all the other problems, including the issue
of territories controlled by the Armenian side, are derivatives.