ARMENIAN PRESIDENT URGES KARABAKH’S INTEGRATION INTO WORLD COMMUNITY

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
6 Jun 06

[Presenter] Bucharest or another Rambouillet. After the 4 June meeting
that lasted for more than three hours in Bucharest, the face-to-face
meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Robert
Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev, continued on 5 June. The meeting lasted
for one hour.

The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group hope that these meetings will
make it possible to make progress on the settlement of the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict. They said that the meetings were held in a good
atmosphere. After yesterday’s meeting, the presidents were expected to
make a statement on the results of the talks, but they left Bucharest
without saying anything to journalists. Prior to the second round
of the negotiations, Kocharyan and Aliyev spoke about the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict in their speeches at the Black Sea summit.

The Armenian president insisted on the Karabakh people’s right to
self-determination, while his Azerbaijani counterpart defended his
country’s territorial integrity. The Armenian president said that
in fact, the Karabakh people have already exercised their right to
self-determination and it is necessary to try to fully integrate
Nagornyy Karabakh into the international community.

[Kocharyan, speaking in English with Armenian voice-over] I would like
to briefly touch on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and our view of
its resolution. The people of Nagornyy Karabakh have in fact exercised
their right to self-determination. This has happened in line with norms
of international law. The results of the referendum on independence
were also supported during the war that was thrust upon them. These
events happened during the downfall of the Soviet Union. This is
a classic example of independence by means of secession. Now the
Nagornyy Karabakh republic has been continuing to prove its right to
independence with its achievements in the establishment of statehood
in the last 15 years.

A new generation is growing in Nagornyy Karabakh and they regard
themselves as defenders of this statehood. We are sure that it is
necessary to make an important attempt to integrate this republic
into the international community.
From: Baghdasarian