ARKADI GHUKASIAN: AZERBAIJAN TRIES TO BLACKMAIL INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY BY CREATING TENSION IN CONTACT BORDERS

YEREVAN, APRIL 1, NOYAN TAPAN. Contacts between the Presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan are necessary, but they cannot replace the
process of negotiations dedicated to the Nagorno Karabakh settlement,
which “is lacking at present”. Arkadi Ghukasian, the NKR President
stated about this at the end of his March 30 meeting in Yerevan, with
Dimitriy Rupel, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. That process must take
place within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, as decided by the
OSCE 1994 Budapest Summit, according to which there are three parties
on the conflict, including Nagorno Karabakh. In reply to the idea
expressed by D.Rupel, that from now and till the late spring or early
summer, there is a “window of opportunies” for the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict, the NKR President mentioned that there is very
little time till the summer, and this time must be used to create
atmosphere of mutual confidence among the conflicting parties.

A.Ghukasian again emphasized the necessity of Karabakh’s
representation as a party of negotiations: Nagorno Karabakh has
participated in the process of negotiations since 1992. According to
Ghukasian, negotiating only with Armenia, Azerbaijan tries to assure
the international community that Armenia is an aggressor and sanctions
must be imposed on it. “We try to settle, to solve the problem,
Azerbaijan tries to charge Armenia. Azerbaijan is busy with
propaganda, we really try to solve the problem,” he emphasized. At the
same time he expressed confidence that Azerbaijan will at last
negotiate with Karabakh: “I have a formula: if Azerbeijan does not
negotiate with Nagorno Karabakh, then Azerbaijan does not want to
settle the problem,” Arkadi Ghukasian mentioned. According to the NKR
President, it is meaningless to speak about concessions today,
especially that there is no active process of negotiations. He also
added that the NKR concessions are hanged on Azerbaijani concessions,
that process cannot be of one party. According to Ghukasian, at the
meeting the OSCE Chairman-in-Office also expressed concern about the
strained situation on the border. According to the NKR President, by
increasing tension on the border, Azerbaijan follows two goals: the
first, to solve an home political problem, trying to persuade to the
opposition that it is ready for the war; and the second, by means of
blackmail, to try to persuade to the international community to solve
the problem by Azerbaijani scenario, otherwise Azerbaijan will
re-start the war. The reason of the last exchanges of fire on the
border, according to the NKR President, was that Azerbaijan was trying
to move its positions closer to the positions of Armenian forces, in
some cases as close as 70 m. The NKR President had suggested the OSCE
Chairman to fix the countact borders and re-control the processes
taking place there. The NKR President excluded the possibility of
signing of any document within the framework of Aliev-Kocharian
meeting in May.