ACCORDING TO SHAVARSH KOCHARIAN, THERE ARE BOTH POSITIVE TENDENCIES
AND DANGERS IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. There is some progress in the
process of Karabakh settlement but there are also dangers. Shavarsh
Kocharian, a member of the Armenian delegation in PACE, declared this
at the September 15 press conference. He participated in the sitting
of PACE ad hoc commission on the issue of Karabakh held on September
12 in Paris. According to him, though the Karabakh settlement model
isn’t declassified it is rather visible.

Kocharian mentioned that in spite of commission’s limited mandate, the
discussion held in Paris was very representative. According to him,
one of its reasons is that there is certain tendency to involve wider
circles into the discussion of the above-mentioned model of Karabakh
settlement. At the same time, according to Shavarsh Kocharian, at the
meeting it was mentioned that against the efforts of the Azeri party,
the settlement process will be only within the framework of the OSCE
Minsk Group. As regards other structures, they can only promote the
process. In particular, the Council of Europe can control the
fulfilment of obligations assumed by Armenia and Azerbaijan, which
includes peaceful settlement of the conflict, creation of an
atmosphere of trust between the two peoples and so on.

It was exactly mentioned during the discussions that it’s possible to
solve the problem only by joint application of principles of
territorial integrity and nations’ right of self-determination. And
the territorial integrity refers to areas beyond Nagorno Karabakh
territory and the right of nations’self-determination to the territory
of Nagorno Karabakh.

According to Kocharian, another important question was that Karabakh
can’t be an enclave, i.e. it must have a connection with Armenia.

It was also indirectly mentioned that it is supposed to create such
conditions so that direct contacts between Armenian and Azeri troops
will be excluded, i.e. implementation of peaceful mission by some
separatist forces.

Touching upon the possible dangers, Shavarsh Kocharian mentioned that
the variant proposed can be estimated as a package solution as it
contains an answer to a number of questions, including issue of
status, while it’s supposed that it will be implemented stage by
stage. According to it, the territories under NKR’s control must be
returned, after which Azeri refugees must return to NKR, then a
referendum must be again held, which will decide if Karabakh will join
Armenia, will be independent or will remain within Azerbaijan’s staff.
According to Kocharian, though nothing is said about terms, return of
refugees suppose some period of time, during which the Armenian party
loses its most serious advantage – controlled territories. As Denis
Samut, representative of LINKS British NGO, mentioned in his speech,
these territories are guarantees of security for Karabakh and can be
used as an argument during the negotiations.

Shavarsh Kocharian emphasized that the return of the territories
immediately violates the military-political balance formed and in
consideration of Azerbaijan’s bellicose appeals and increase in the
military budget, it creates a serious danger for Karabakh.