NKR REPRESENTATIVE IN THE U.S: THERE ARE POSITIVE
TENDENCIES IN THE PROCESS OF NKR’S RECOGNITION

Defacto.am
2006-09-20 15:31:00

Today, DiplomaticTraffic.com, an online periodical of the East West
Communications, published an interview with NKR Representative to
the U.S. Vardan Barseghian.

According to Vardan Barseghian, although not recognized formally
by any government, Karabakh’s continued march to secure lasting
independence is irreversible. "There is no going back for us,"
he said. "Just because Stalin gave Karabakh to Azerbaijan does not
mean that the international community has to reinforce what Stalin
did." He continued: "What [Stalin] did at the beginning of the last
century was against the will of our people. And now we are at the
beginning of the 21st Century." Barseghian noted that GDP doubled
from 2001 to 2005 (increasing to $114 million from $53 million),
and economic growth last year was 14 percent.

Investments have been in telecoms, gold mining, diamond polishing,
jewelry and agriculture. During Soviet times, Karabakh was the
biggest per-capita producer of grapes in the USSR. Karabakh is also
known for its Mulberry brandy, called Tti Oghi locally. "It is a
beautiful country," Barseghian said, offering prospects for tourism
development. Some 4,000 foreigners visited in 2005.

Asked about possible recognition of their republic, Barseghian
said "there are positive tendencies" in that direction. He said
"governments recognize the fact that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
has been established and functioning as a country, and more and more
contacts look like regular government-to-government contacts." However,
"the US government tries not to portray these as regular contacts,
for obvious reasons." Nevertheless, "what’s interesting is that
Washington tracks what’s going on in Nagorno-Karabakh, including
economic progress and democratization. We have indications through
third parties that they are happy with the progress, although they
would not say that in public."

Regarding relations with Azerbaijan, he said: "I don’t think we have
illusions about being able to negotiate with Azerbaijan directly for
our independence."

Commenting on the work of the Minsk Group, he noted that, "The main
purpose of the Minsk Group is to facilitate negotiations, and not to
achieve a pre-determined outcome." Barseghian said that by fighting
for independence, the people of Karabakh had "reaffirmed our right
to live on the land of our ancestors in the way that we feel is good
for us." He said "It was a very heavy price," with several thousand
ethnic Armenians killed.

He noted that de facto Azerbaijan had recognized Nagorno-Karabakh’s
existence by recognizing the line of contact that separated the
two sides under the ceasefire. "This is the de facto border between
Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh."

"I believe the world recognizes that we deserve to be free, and as a
minimum we should avoid another disaster. International recognition
of Karabakh’s independence will discourage another attack by
Azerbaijan. The ceasefire has held for 12 years, and we believe this
is due to the natural balance of forces." He noted that Azerbaijan’s
oil revenue had been used in part to strengthen its armed forces, and
Karabakh (and Armenia) stress to the US Congress and administration
that a military balance should be maintained to prevent a new attack
by Azerbaijan.