ARMENIA REJECTS UN ROLE IN KARABAKH TALKS
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Sept 4 2006

Armenia will refuse to hold further peace talks with Azerbaijan if the
latter persists in trying to get the United Nations to deal with the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian indicated
on Monday.

Oskanian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov are
tentatively scheduled to meet in Paris or London next week to discuss
ways of kickstarting the Karabakh peace process. Officials in Baku
and Yerevan have said the meeting could pave the way for another
crucial Armenian-Azerbaijani summit before the end of this year.

"We have not yet confirmed the September 12 meeting," Oskanian told
reporters. "I don’t know whether it will take place. It will depend
on developments unfolding at other bodies."

He was clearly referring to a joint appeal to the UN which was made
last week by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The four
ex-Soviet states aligned in the pro-Western GUAM grouping reportedly
asked the UN General Assembly to discuss the unresolved ethnic
conflicts in the South Caucasus and Moldova at its upcoming session.

They argued that international efforts to settle those conflicts have
yielded no results.

Armenia has always been opposed to UN involvement in Karabakh peace
talks, insisting that the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe remain the main international body brokering
a solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute. It apparently fears
that Azerbaijan would enlist the backing of other Muslim nations to
push pro-Azerbaijani resolutions through the General Assembly. Speaking
to RFE/RL last month, the Armenian ambassador at the UN, Armen
Martirosian, warned that Yerevan will pull out of the negotiating
process if the Karabakh issue is included on the assembly agenda.

Oskanian did not deny this, saying that the additional "obstacles"
created by Azerbaijan would render further negotiations meaningless.

Speaking to Armenian state television at the weekend, he accused Baku
of toughening its position on the issue and being reluctant to accept
the Minsk Group’s most recent peace plan.

The plan, which was disclosed by the group’s American, French and
Russian co-chairs in June, calls for a gradual settlement of the
conflict that would culminate in a referendum on Karabakh’s status.

The authorities in Yerevan have largely accepted the proposed
deal, saying that it upholds the Karabakh Armenians’ right to
self-determination.

"Today there is no other document on the table," Oskanian said on
Monday. "I think [further talks] will center on it."

The Azerbaijani reaction to the proposed settlement has been more
ambiguous, with President Ilham Aliev repeatedly stating in recent
months that he will never agree to any deal that could legitimize
Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan. Aliev’s top foreign policy aide,
Novruz Mammadov, accused the mediators last month of "ignoring" his
country’s territorial integrity and warned that Baku might turn to
the UN.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress