IT’S POSITIVE THAT AZERBAIJAN TRIES TO GIVE UP AGGRESSIVE STANCE, NKR
PRESIDENT THINKS
Karabakh issue
Azg/arm
17 July 05
President of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Arkady Ghukasian, called
a press conference yesterday. Focusing chiefly on his meeting with
the OSCE Minsk group co-chairmen two days ago, Ghukasian expressed
readiness to answer various questions of journalists.
Answering a question about the opinion of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
reporter on Nagorno Karabakh Goran Lenmarker over connecting Karabakh
with Armenia, Ghukasian praised this valiant approach.
He emphasized that everyone who was into the settlement process got
convinced in the need to include Karabakh in the negotiations. “But
if Azerbaijan does not want to talk to Karabakh, it means it avoids
settling the confrontation”, the president said. He refused to comment
on the so-called alternatives of conflict settlement circulating in
the media, explaining that the talks are confidential.
Journalists were interested in the fate of Lachin in the possible
regulation . The president said that Lachin should not become an
object of negotiations as it is the road connecting Karabakh and
Armenia and is important for the Republic’s security.
Arkady Ghukasian agreed with the co-chairmen that the talks marked
positive shift, and Azerbaijan is trying to give up its aggressive
stance. “The key issue for us today is Nagorno Karabakh’s status,
and Azerbaijan is now discussing it with the co-chairs”, Ghukasian
pointed out. The next positive fact he mentioned is that the sides do
not avoid any more discussing issues put forward by the opposite side.
Speaking of the steps directed to bring together Karabakh and
Azerbaijan since the truce, Ghukasian said that the essential contact
was while signing a joined communiqué. The contacts fall on the period
before 1997 when Karabakh was a participant of the peace talks on
the sidelines of OSCE Minsk Group. Aside from this, Azerbaijani and
Artsakhi foreign ministers and parliament representatives got in
touch with each other.
President Ghukasian called untimely the “necessary stage” mentioned
by French chairman Bernard Fassie, saying that it may be needed only
after agreement is reached over key elements of the conflict.
The president excluded the possibility of making a joint announcement
with Azerbaijan at the present stage.
Is that possible, as Azerbaijan offers, to get in touch with the Azeri
community of Karabakh? Ghukasian dubbed this offer an “element of the
Azeri-run theatre”, noting that the Azeris also should make contacts
with the Russian, Greek and other communities of Nagorno Karabakh,
if we follow their logic.
Turning to other issues, Arkady Ghukasian informed that the commission
he chairs is working on the draft of the constitution of Nagorno
Karabakh. The opinion of the new forces at the parliament should
also be considered. Though the Venice Commission has stipulated
no conditions, Karabakh has to draw up a constitution in line with
European standards. The draft constitution will enter the national
Assembly by the end of this year.
By Kim Gabrielian in Stepanakert
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