Armenian minister says Council of Europe may mediate Karabakh talks

Arminfo
29 Mar 05

YEREVAN

“I am not a messiah to rule out the possibility of involving other
international structures in negotiations on a peaceful settlement to
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. This is not likely but cannot be ruled
out either,” Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told today’s
parliamentary hearings on the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict.

The minister did not rule out that the Council of Europe could be put
in charge of mediating the negotiating process. There has been a trend
recently towards discussing the Karabakh problem in other structures,
which the minister believes is natural as the problem worries many
people. Moreover, Azerbaijan has been intensively raising this issue
with other structures where the principle of territorial integrity
prevails over the principle of self-determination.

“At present, the Karabakh issue is being discussed at the political
level, not at the legal, emotional or historic levels. Bearing all
this in mind, both our government and parliament have so far managed
to avoid consequences that are detrimental to us,” the minister said.

At the same time, he ruled out the possibility of expanding the format
of [the OSCE] Minsk Group and having four mediators [instead of
three], bringing in, for example, a British representative.

“Expanding the format is meaningless. However, changes could be
discussed if any of the current mediators opts out of the mission,”
Oskanyan said.