Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] leader notes “positive changes” in
Karabakh talks – Armenian agency

Mediamax news agency
15 Jul 05

Yerevan, 15 July: “If the Azerbaijani leadership does not want to see
Nagornyy Karabakh as a party to the conflict, this means it does not
want a settlement,” the president of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic
[NKR], Arkadiy Gukasyan, said in Stepanakert today.

Speaking at a news conference in Stepanakert today, Arkadiy Gukasyan
recalled that the status of Nagornyy Karabakh as a party to the
conflict was determined in the documents of the OSCE Budapest Summit
[in 1994] and has already been recognized as such by the Minsk Group
co-chairs on Nagornyy Karabakh, as well as by Azerbaijan itself.

Arkadiy Gukasyan described as a “show” the current behaviour of the
Azerbaijani leadership which is refusing to accept this fact, and
stressed once again that it was impossible to resolve the problem
without Nagornyy Karabakh’s participation.

Commenting on the issue of the Lacin humanitarian corridor raised
by the Azerbaijani side recently, Arkadiy Gukasyan noted that Lacin
cannot be a subject of compromise since this road connects Nagornyy
Karabakh with the rest of the world. “We did not and will not retreat
from our positions,” the NKR president stressed.

Arkadiy Gukasyan noted positive changes in the settlement process,
which in particular include the softening of the Baku government’s
position as it has been speaking more frequently about a peaceful
settlement and need for dialogue with Nagornyy Karabakh. The president
did not rule out that this position could change under serious pressure
on Azerbaijan by the international community.

Arkadiy Gukasyan has positively assessed Baku’s readiness to discuss
the key issue in the settlement process, i.e. the status of Nagornyy
Karabakh. The NKR president described as useful any contacts between
the sides, but at the same time, he described as “meaningless”
the attempts of Azerbaijani politicians to give equal rights and
obligations to the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagornyy
Karabakh.