ARMENIAN MINISTER ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF REJECTING KARABAKH PEACE PLAN

Public Television of Armenia
Sept 26 2006

Armenian foreign minister has said that Yerevan has agreed to all
basic principles of a proposal on ending the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict. In an address to a UN General Assembly session, he also
accused Azerbaijan of rejecting peace plans and of seeking a return
to the past in the face of changes in the region. The following is the
text of a presenter-read report by Armenian Public TV on 26 September

The people of Nagornyy Karabakh have adopted a decision long ago not to
be represented by the Azerbaijani government. The Karabakh people were
the victims of state violence, they defended themselves, and succeeded
against all odds, only to hear the state cry foul and claim sovereignty
and territorial integrity, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan
said at the 61st session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Vardan Oskanyan outlined that the Azerbaijani government has lost
the moral right to make offers to ensure the Karabakh peoples’
security and future. Azerbaijan did not treat the Karabakh people,
who were Azerbaijan’s citizens, with responsibility. Azerbaijan allowed
pogroms in the cities, far from Nagornyy Karabakh and more than 300,000
Armenians were evicted. After signing an agreement on cease-fire in
the war which they have lost, the Azerbaijanis started destroying
all Armenian traces on their territories, Vardan Oskanyan said.

Ten years later after the end of hostilities, they destroyed thousands
of cross stones. This shows that Azerbaijan’s attitude to humanitarian
and cultural values and agreement, even to peace has not changed. One
cannot blame Armenia for thinking that Azerbaijan is not ready or
interested in the negotiations.

We have agreed to each of the basic principles in the document on
the settlement of the conflict that is on the table. Having rejected
the other two compromise solutions that have been put forward,
Azerbaijan does not want to be accused of rejecting the peace plan
on the table today. Therefore, they are using all means available,
from state violence to international manoeuvres, trying to prove that
it was Armenia who rejected it.

However, Armenia has agreed to each of the basic principles in the
document that is on the table today. Yet, in order to give this or
any document a chance, Azerbaijan cannot think or pretend to think
that there is still a military solution. There is no such option.

Compromise and realism are the only options, the Armenian foreign
minister said.

The road chosen by the Nagornyy Karabakh people 20 years ago is
irreversible. Thanks to it Nagornyy Karabakh succeeded in ensuring
self-defence, has established a mechanism of self-government and is
in charge of its borders and economy. An official recognition of this
process is an important condition for stability in the region.

Ignoring what has happened in the course of the past twenty years,
Azerbaijan is demanding with an offended look to restore everything as
it used to be. This is unfair and unrealistic, said Vardan Oskanyan,
and added that Nagornyy Karabakh is not a court of law [as heard],
but a place, a beautiful garden inhabited by people who deserve
the right to live in peace without fear. We are not demanding more,
but we are not expecting less either, Vardan Oskanyan said.