AZERI DELEGATION IN PA OSCE FAILS TO INCLUDE “ATKINSON” PROVISIONS
INTO LENMARKER’S REPORT
YEREVAN, MARCH 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Serious opportunities for becoming
a leader in the regional competition are created for Armenia within
the framework of the “Wide Europe. New Neighborhood” program. Vahan
Hovhannisian, RA NA Vice-Speaker, the head of Armenian delegation in
PA OSCE, expressed such an opinion at the March 21 press conference.
He reported that on March 17-18 the meeting of representatives of
Armenian and Azeri delegations in PA OSCE was held in Brussels. The
meeting was headed by Goran Lenmarker, Special Representative on
Nagorno Karabakh in the organization. The report on Nagorno Karabakh
will be represented by the latter in early July during the annual OSCE
Session in Washington. Hovhannisian said that Lenmarker’s preliminary
report submitted to the sides nearly a year ago was rather balanced,
which caused the protest of the Azeri party and became the reason
of the delay. In the above-mentioned period discussions on Nagorno
Karabakh conflict were held in the European Commission, in European
Parliament, in the EU Council of Ministers, which were followed by
the bilateral negotiations of Armenian and Azeri delegations. Owing to
the efforts of the Armenian party it was established and Lenmarker’s
report will also mention that the first and foremost issue among all
the others is the Karabakh status issue. It was also established that
all the other issues brought forward by the Azeri party are derivative
and their solution is impossible without the solution of the issue
of status. According to Vahan Hovhannisian, his European colleagues
also supported the opinion of the Armenian delegation that the 2
sides should cooperate, which will contribute to the process of the
conflict settlement. The delegation head emphasized that any progress
within the framework of the “Wider Europe. New Neighborhood” program
is only possible as a result of the regional cooperation. According
to Vahan Hovhannisian, the attempts of the Azeri delegation to include
“Atkinson” provisions in the Lenmarker’s expected report failed even if
at this stage of negotiations. Answering Azerbaijan’s statements about
growth of tension and exchange of fire on the contact line of Armenian
and Azeri forces, Samvel Nokoyan, another member of the Armenian
delegation, said that this tension is the result of the Resolution
adopted in PACE on the basis of David Atkinson’s report. Mentioning
that after the April 25 session of EU Council of Ministers each of
the 3 South Caucasian countries will be suggested an action plan,
Vahan Hovhannisian expressed an opinion that Armenia not only has a
chance to make maximum profit out of this program, but also to use
it for the purpose of creation more favorable conditions for solution
of the Karabakh problem.