Iravunk, Armenia
Nov 23 2006

ARMENIAN POLITICIANS DOWNBEAT ON FORTHCOMING KARABAKH TALKS

by Tagui Tovmasyan’s

"Robert Kocharyan will take off his trousers but will not sign any
document"

The Russian and French co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group [mediating
a solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict], Yuriy Merzlyakov and
Bernard Fassier, said yesterday [22 November] before leaving for Baku
that [Armenian] President Robert Kocharyan had agreed to meet
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Minsk on 28-29 November on the
sidelines of a CIS summit. This seems to be the last attempt of the
co-chairmen to "budge" the Karabakh settlement process.

Representatives of some political parties have commented on the
possible signing of a document by Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev
during their forthcoming meeting in Minsk.

Aram Manukyan, member of the APNM [Armenian Pan-National Movement]
board: "Are you naive? No document will be signed. Robert Kocharyan
will take off his trousers but will not sign any document. That is to
say, he is ready to do everything not to sign a document."

Vladimir Karapetyan, press secretary of the Armenian Foreign
Ministry: "We took an active part in the discussions. The Armenian
foreign minister held three meetings in the last three months as a
result of which the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen concluded that it
was time to suggest that the presidents think about holding the next
meeting. This was the reason for their visit to the region."

Andranik Tevanyan, member of the Dashink [Alliance] party’s political
board: "I do not think that they will reach an agreement in
principle. Judging by the current processes, I think that the
Karabakh issue will be settled after 2008 [the next presidential
elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan]."

Vazgen Manukyan, leader of the Armenian Democratic Union: "I rule out
that any document will be signed by the end of the current year."

Aram Sarkisyan, leader of the Armenian Democratic Party: "I have
always said that there is no chance of signing a document as a result
of these kinds of meetings because the principles of the two
presidents do not give us grounds to believe that they may come to
any agreement. A document may be signed only if they agree in
principle on the scheme of settlement. For instance, if the Armenian
party agrees to return the territories, in Azerbaijan they should
think of a referendum in Karabakh, but they do not do so. But
President Kocharyan cannot make a decision like this because he does
not have legal grounds to fulfil this function. He does not represent
the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh republic] at present and does not have the
rights which the NKR leadership has."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress