ARKADI GHUKASYAN: SOONER OR LATER EVERYBODY WILL COME TO A CONCLUSION
THAT KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S
PARTICIPATION

ARMINFO News Agency
September 20, 2006 Wednesday

Today, during his visit to the Yerablur Memorial Complex in Yerevan,
Nagorno-Karabakh President Arkadi Ghukasyan told the journalists that
sooner or later everybody will come to a conclusion that the Karabakh
peace process is impossible without Nagorno-Karabakh’s participation.

"Today, our region dictates the formula: if you want peace, be ready
for war. We should naturally be attentive to the issues of security
and our army should always be efficient. But now the war is going
on in other spheres: economy, politics, culture. The war wasn’t our
choice, we were forced to fight. We won but life proved that war is
not a good way to solve problems, and we should find a political way
of the conflict settlement", he said. Expressing his attitude to the
GUAM’s initiative for putting the question of the "frozen conflicts"
for consideration of the UN General Assembly, the NKR President said
that in this case Azerbaijan and the GUAM countries pursue the goal
of propaganda. Answering the question how to return the process of
negotiations to the proper course, he noted that the process has
been out of course for a long time as the OSCE Minsk Group isn’t
active enough. The meetings of Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents
and Foreign Ministers are not enough as the MG, which is commissioned
to negotiate with all the sides of the conflict, fails carrying out
its functions. I think we’ll probably have a real chance as soon as
the process returns to its proper course with the full-fledged format
of negotiations", he pointed out. Ghukassyan said that the Karabakh
side meets with the co-chairmen regularly. "There is no need in a
special initiative from Karabakh as every time there is a subject
for discussion the co-chairmen themselves initiate meetings with
the leadership of all the three sides of the conflict, particularly,
with the NKR leadership", he noted.