ARKA News Agency, Armenia
July 4 2005

DPA LEADER: ARMENIA NOT EMPOWERED TO NEGOTIATE ON BEHALF OF KARABAKH

YEREVAN, July 4. /ARKA/. Armenia is not empowered to negotiate on
behalf of Karabakh, Armenian Democratic Party leader Aram Sargssyan
said Monday at a press conference presenting results of the 8th round
of Dartmouth Conference on Regional Conflicts. In his words, Armenia
has no right to hold negotiations for two reasons. First, Armenia
hasn’t officially recognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s independence
and the second, has not declared that NKR is Armenia’s integral part.
“Taking into account that, Armenia has to refuse to hold negotiations
and give this right to NKR”, he said.
In his opinion, Nagorno-Karabakh should be given back the right to
defend its interests. “That would be a right step, especially
considering the fact that, unlike Armenia’s leadership, NKR’s
authorities are free from corruption burden”, the party leader said.
Sargssyan thinks that stable peace can’t be reached in the region
without public accord.
The Regional Conflicts working group of Dartmouth Conference was
created in 1982. Representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno
Karabakh have held eight joint meetings with American and Russian
members of the group since October 2001. The aim of the long-term
dialogue is to find approaches to start peace process for putting an
end to the conflict. M.V. -0–