ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS MUST TAKE DECISION ON REFERENDUM, SAYS MATTHEW BRYZA
Baku, August 2. ArmInfo-TURAN. At present neither Armenia, nor
Azerbaijan have agreed to any proposals of the OSCE MG co-chairmen.
Part of the co-chairmen’s proposals are still under discussion,
Matthew Bryza, U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE MG, said in an interview
to Yeni Musavat daily, while commenting on the reaction of Baku and
Yerevan to the co- chairmen’s proposals on the conflict settlement.
With regard to the referendum on the Karabakh status, Bryza said
that this idea was proposed by his predecessors, not by him. "The
question on a referendum must be first agreed on by the presidents,"
said Bryza. Results of the referendum will depend on its format and
on the voting of the people living in Nagorno Karabakh. Bryza did not
rule out the possibility of counting the votes of people that lived
in Karabakh until 1988.
Commenting on a statement about the participation of only Nagorno
Karabakh’s population in voting, Bryza said that this is not
his personal position. "These are proposals put forward by the
co-chairmen. I simply reiterate them. We did not insist on adoption
or non-adoption of these proposals. We simply put forward proposals
for your discretion," said Bryza.
He also stressed that the latest proposals are the best ones that have
been discussed during the past two years. He urged the parties of the
conflict to express a concrete opinion on adoption, non-adoption or
change of proposals.