Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 30 2005
Hearings on Upper Garabagh conflict begin in Armenian parliament
Baku, March 29, AssA-Irada
Two-day hearings, `Upper Garabagh conflict and ways of its
settlement’, began in the Armenian parliament on Tuesday.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian said during the discussions
that `one should take courage and confess that the Upper Garabagh
conflict may be settled on mutual concessions and on condition that
peace talks continue with participation of the leadership of Upper
Garabagh’.
Oskanian said that concessions should be generated during the peace
talks. `If I say that we are ready to make certain concessions, then
I will disclose the cards because this is Upper Garabagh that cannot
be an enclave. We cannot expose the population of Upper Garabagh to
danger. We can make concessions on other points,’ Oskanian said.
A draft statement on Upper Garabagh’s independence from Azerbaijan
will be discussed during the hearings as well. Aram Sarkisian, the
leader of the Armenian Democrat Party, said that the document will be
presented to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the European Union
member states and Armenian embassies in foreign countries after it is
approved by the Armenian parliament.
The Armenian President’s national security adviser Garnik Isagulian,
Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, and former Russian co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov, who held the position from 1992
till 1996, as well as representatives of international organizations
and foreign embassies accredited in the country, are attending the
hearings.*