VARTAN OSKANIAN: RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE SERIOUS STEPS DIRECTED AGAINST XENOPHOBIA
AZG Armenian Daily
26/12/2006
"Xenophobia is quite a serious problem for Russia itself," RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian said in the interview to Yerkir Media. He
stated that the Russian authorities should take drastic measures
to stop xenophobia in the country as it is fraught with dangerous
consequences. Oskanian emphasized that it isn’t aimed against Armenia
in particular but against non-Russians in general. "We must also try
to help Russia to effectively fight this phenomenon," he said.
As for the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Mr. Oskanian
said that the Referendum is the only way to resolve the Karabakh
conflict. Commenting on the recent statement of Ilham Aliyev,
Azerbaijani President, who said that Azerbaijan is ready to give a
status of certain autonomy to Nagorno Karabakh, Mr. Oskanian said
this statement is merely "unwise".
"Azerbaijan occupied wrong position in this issue. The last statement
of Aliyev was not wise, especially at this stage when we are saying
that the negotiations are at a critical point and there are serious
prospects of peaceful settlement. The negotiations are at such
a delicate stage that any statement like that may have negative
consequence and fail the whole process, " he said. According
to Mr. Oskanian, Azerbaijan has to avoid any statements about
territorial integrity. "The only opportunity to combine the principles
of territorial integrity and peoples’ right for self-determination is
to authorize the NKR people to solve the problem of status by itself
via Referendum", the Minister emphasized.
According to him, it will be difficult to resolve the problem if
formulate the question so that "NKR should remain in the structure
of Azerbaijan or join Armenia or get an independence", since the
Minister reminded, neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan are ready to
refuse of Karabakh on their own free will. "The only way out is to
use the principle of the right of people for self-determination and
conduction of a referendum", the Minister said. In response to the
question whether the "windows" of opportunities remains open, Oskanian
expressed the opinion that the year 2006 was no so bad concerning
the negotiation process, there were progresses. "I think a chance
for settlement remains in 2007 if there are serious progresses and
we’ll have to thank the negotiation process of 2006", V. Oskanian said.