ARMENIAN OFFICIAL RULES OUT FINAL STAGE IN TALKS WITHOUT KARABAKH’S INVOLVEMENT

Armenian Second TV Channel, Yerevan,
Nov 30 2006

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has denied that Armenia
and Azerbaijan are reaching a final stage in the Nagornyy Karabakh
peace talks.

In an interview with Armenian Second TV Channel on 30 November,
Oskanyan said: "It is hard to say that we are close to the final stage
of the conflict resolution since we haven’t agreed on and accepted
the main principles of the document."

Oskanyan added that "the problem will not be solved if Karabakh
does not participate in the talks and agree with the final stage of
negotiations. There are still the details that have not been discussed
and resolved yet".

He downplayed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s optimism about
the course of talks.

"First, he said that all disputed issues had already been agreed
upon. Later he said that both sides were getting closer in having
common views. I agree with the second statement. I can tell you
confidently that the first one is not true. There has not been
such an opportunity to reach a total agreement in the talks. Both
presidents had positive views on the meeting generally… It is
even hard to say that both sides had common views. So the process is
ahead of us. … The most important thing is that the talks were not
deadlocked," Oskanyan added.

Oskanyan said that the Nagornyy Karabakh people’s rights to
self-determination and the possibility of a referendum in Karabakh
were the cornerstones of the talks and that Aliyev’s statement
that negotiations were going within the framework of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity did not reflect the reality.