DISAGREEMENTS REMAIN BTWN SIDES TO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT TALKS-CORR
Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
December 1, 2006 Friday
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said on Friday that
disagreements are remaining in the negotiating process on the Nagorno
Karabakh settlement. These disagreements concern the principles of
a peace agreement, as well as its nuances, the minister told a news
conference, adding that "a window of opportunities" for the conflict
settlement will probably remain open in the next year.
According to the minister, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
will give concrete instructions to the foreign ministers shortly for
the continued negotiating process. "The process is not in impasse,"
Oskanian believes.
The Azerbaijani authorities keep calling the observance of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity as a basis for settlement, and Armenia – the
right of the Karabakh people for self-determination.
According to the Armenian minister, "A solution to this problem
can be found only at a referendum, the proposal to hold which is
included in the document the sides are discussing." For Oskanian
"it is obvious that a referendum will be held in Nagorno Karabakh,
and people, who lived and live there, will participate in it."
The Armenian foreign minister believes that without participation
of Nagorno Karabakh’s representatives in the negotiating process,
even though at its final stage, "settlement will be impossible".