KARABAKH ISSUE PROTRACTED

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| 13:12:10 | 03-09-2005 | Politics |

Taking into consideration the absence of any formal information board
member of the Armenian National Movement Vahagn Hovhannisyan gives
the following assessment to the current stage of the Karabakh conflict.

During recent 7 years no progress was fixed in the Karabakh conflict
settlement process. The incumbent leadership of Armenia and Azerbaija
are protracting the settlement in order to hold the power.

-In you opinion what are the Presidents of both states doing during
their meetings?

-They are just trying to show they are not inactive.

-Do you think they succeed? Don~Rt the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs
notice anything?

-One should not anchor big hopes with the Co-Chairs. They all have
different positions on the Karabakh issue.

-Rumors over the Karabakh conflict have become greater lately. How
do you explain that?

-The Co-Chairs themselves said that no document is ready yet. As
a matter of fact there is nobody now involved in the settlement
process. The conflict will be resolved only in case the Armenian and
Azerbaijani authorities are legal. Presently the Presidents of both
states are concerned over their own problems.

-Does it means that you bound the Karabakh settlement with Armenia
and Azerbaijan only? Doesn~Rt Karabakh have any role in this process?

-Since 1988, thanks to the incumbent, any role of Karabakh in the
process has been excluded. Levon Ter-Petrosyan once said that he will
signed the document only in case Karabakh approves it. The policy of
the incumbent leadership is quite opposite. Today Karabakh is a mere
observer. However it should be engaged the negotiations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress