RESOLUTION COMING NEARER

Azat Artsakh Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
09 Sept 05

At the meeting with NKR President Arkady Ghukassian the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office, the foreign minister of Slovenia Dimitrij Rupel
visiting Baku and Yerevan on September 5 and 6 said the resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict may be reached by the end of the
year. According to the president of NKR, during the meeting which
lasted longer than it had been scheduled, not all the questions were
discussed because they were very many. Dwelling on the details of the
meeting, President Ghukassian commended the work of the OSCE Minsk
Group and mentioned that two visits of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office
Dimitrij Rupel in a year show that the process will be accelerated.
However, it will not be over by the end of the year. The foreign
minister of Slovenia shared his opinion. According to him, the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is probable this year despite
the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan in November, and the
referendum on the Constitution of Armenia, and it is obvious that the
elections are not a good motive, said Dimitrij Rupel. Nevertheless,
he said, the election will not affect the talks. The NKR president
also discussed the boldness of the Armenian party to make compromises,
which is not the case with Azerbaijan. Arkady Ghukassian mentioned
that the Armenian party is aware of the fact that during the talks one
does not get what they want. Of course, it is necessary to sacrifice
something to attain another thing. As to the president, he cannot see
that the Azerbaijanis are brave enough to accept compromise. According
to Arkady Ghukassian, he is interested in the results of the talks
rather than the talks itself. `We always take into account the problem
of security of Nagorno Karabakh, and any decision, any process is
first of all to be determined by the problems of security of Nagorno
Karabakh for us,’ said the president of NKR. As to the variants of
resolution, be it a package or a stage by stage resolution, according
to the president, they are not important. `We agree to the stage by
stage resolution if Azerbaijan agrees to settle first the issue of the
status of Artsakh and only then solve its own problems. This is
acceptable for us. ‘ Arkady Ghukassian was quite brief on the new
model of status which consists in partial independence of Karabakh:
`It is like being partly pregnant. I cannot imagine such a status.’
The NKR president said he drew the attention of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office to the fact that while the Armenian party views the
issue in the light of the peace process, the Azerbaijani party does
the opposite. Azerbaijan regularly considers the militaristic
resolution of the conflict and increasing the budget of the army.
Arkady Ghukassian explains Aliev’s statement by the fact that the
latter is trying to solve domestic problems but, on the other hand,
the president is anxious because by solving domestic problems Aliev
becomes the slave of his statements and thereby hinders the general
process. According to the NKR president, the resolution is also
delayed because Nagorno Karabakh does not take part in it. In his turn
the foreign minister of Armenia did not forget to mention that this
gap will be filled in very soon `when we arrive at a certain level in
discussing the details.’ In this case, according to him, it will be
necessary to restore the Minsk process, and the government of Nagorno
Karabakh will be automatically involved in the process. After the
meeting with the NKR president the foreign minister of Slovenia
Dimitrij Rupel met with the president of Armenia Robert Kocharian and
the prime minister of Armenia Anoushavan Danielian. President
Kocharian and D. Rupel discussed the talks for the resolution of the
conflict and its present stage. Here is one more interesting detail;
Dimitrij Rupel extended the message of Ilham Aliev to the president of
Armenia. Despite the curiosity of the journalists, the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office did not say anything about the content of the
message. He merely said that hopefully the meetings of the foreign
ministers of the two countries will go on.

CHRISTINE MNATSAKANIAN.
09-09-2005