AZG Armenian Daily #117, 24/06/2006

Karabakh issue

VARTAN OSKANIAN: TO SUGGEST AUTONOMY TO NAGORNO
KARABAKH IS SELF-DECEPTION

Armenia has supported and still supports all the international measures
directed to aversion and condemnation of genocides, ethnic purges
of people in their historical lands and the attempts to deny these
events. Vartan Oskanian, RA Foreign Minister, said this in the course
of the sitting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, on June 21.

In his speech, Oskanian touched upon the destruction of 2000 Middle
Aged Armenian cross stones in Nor Jugha, Nakhijevan, when the Armenians
had nothing to do but to watch how the Azeris were destroying their
cultural and spiritual heritage. Oskanian stated that this brutal
attitude to the Armenian spirit and culture lasts for already centuries
and is very cynical and dangerous. "2000 marvelous medieval cross
stones were totally destroyed few months ago," he said. Mr. Oskanian
stated that the Armenians and the international community are quite
concerned that the intentions of the Azeri authorities to settle
the peace are not serious. He emphasized that the cross stones
were destroyed in a place where not a single Armenian lives at
present. Mr. Oskanian said that this factor testifies to the real
intentions and methods of Azerbaijan. He stated that such a brutal
annihilation of a nation’s culture and history leads to mistrust and
loss of peace.

As for the current stage of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement
process, he said that Azerbaijan’s approach "one step forward, one step
back" applied in the negotiations was concerning, while the suggestion
of autonomy to NKR testify to Azerbaijan’s retreat and decline from the
essence of the negotiations and from the international trends. "It’s
a mere self-deception to suggest autonomy to people who manage their
life in their own historical land for about two decades already,"
Mr. Oskanian said.

Anyway, Mr. Oskanian expressed hope that the negotiations will be
held in the direction that will lead to long lasting peace for all
sides in conflict.

By Aghavni Harutyunian