Foreign minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic regrets OSCE
mediators ignore Karabakh

Arminfo
21 Apr 06

Stepanakert , 21 April: Disrespect for the rights of the people of
Nagornyy Karabakh lies at the heart of the Karabakh conflict, the
foreign minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR], Georgiy
Petrosyan, said during parliamentary hearings on the prospects of
solving the Karabakh problem in Stepanakert today.

The foreign minister pointed out that after the Karabakh people made
a statement about their right to self-determination, their political
demand turned into ethnic cleaning on the part of Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, the minister noted that “for the NKR, independence is not
an end in itself, but an opportunity to live and develop on its own
land”.

Petrosyan said that if the political process does not take account of
the right of a people, then the interests of the sides clash. He said
that Baku has in fact turned the settlement of the problem out of a
political issue into a military confrontation. He expressed his
regret that the mediators are ignoring the results of the referendum
on the independence of Nagornyy Karabakh. Petrosyan suggested that
the parties to the conflict sign an agreement on refusing to use
force.

Asked by participants in the hearings, the minister said that
Karabakh is always aware of the content of the negotiations between
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents and the Armenian president
informs the NKR president about them.

Petrosyan pointed out that “this does not mean that Karabakh agrees
with all issues”. The minister also said that “the Karabakh card”
should not be used for personal or corporate purposes.