MASIS MAYILYAN: DISCUSSION OF THE KARABAKH ISSUE OUTSIDE THE OSCE CAN PRODUCE THE OPPOSITE EFFECT

ArmRadio.am
12.02.2007 17:32

"We welcome every action that could be helpful for the peace settlement
of the conflict. However, in the past few years we saw that discussion
of the Karabakh issue in different international organizations other
than the OSCE were not productive, moreover, they can produce the
opposite effect, NKR Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mayilyan said in
an interview with the "Karabakh Open."

The Deputy Foreign Minister said that as a rule, Azerbaijan is up for
reporting the conflict to different international organizations to
intensify information and psychological confrontation in the region
and pressure on the both Armenian parties.

The misinterpretation of the essence of the conflict may also do harm
to the settlement of the conflict, which was the case with the report
of the PACE reporter on the Karabakh conflict. Therefore, to avoid
this, the actors of these discussions should mind in their efforts to
promote the settlement of the conflict not to get the parties ramble
away from the resolution of the conflict," he noted.

As for the report of the Rapporteur on the missing persons in
Nagorno Karabakh Leo Platvoet, Masis Mayilyan expressed regret that
the Rapporteur used unchecked data received from Baku. "The Karabakh
party has pointed to the fact that the Azerbaijani data on the missing
people are false. The Azerbaijani government hides the real number
of its losses in the period of the military actions by multiplying
this number. Moreover, it is highly probable that part of the people
mentioned in the Azerbaijani records of the missing deserted in the
midst of the war and are now living in Russia and other countries.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, in 1997 the
total number of the missing in the area of the conflict, both Armenian
and Azerbaijani, was 2229. Considering that the ICRC collected these
data within the three years following the cease-fire, they could not
undergo major changes later. At the same time, it should be noted
that the recommendations of the report by Leo Platvoet include several
statements set forward by the Karabakh side, namely criticism against
politicization of the issue of the missing, as well as the necessity
for setting up contacts between the state commission of NKR and its
Azerbaijani counterpart for productive cooperation over the given
issue," said Masis Mayilyan.

Turning to the frequent cases of crossing the border by Azeri soldiers
the Deputy Foreign Minister said the NKR government, which committed
to the Geneva Conventions, reports immediately to the Stepanakert
offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the OSCE,
then the prisoners are returned to the Azerbaijani side through the
ICRC. "As a member of the NKR State Commission on the POWs and the
missing, I state that presently there are no POWs and missing people
in the territory of our republic.

As to the fact that recently more Azerbaijani soldiers have been
imprisoned, the reasons may differ. According to the Azerbaijani
military experts, the reason might be bad treatment in the Azerbaijani
military units located at the front line, corruption among commissioned
officers, as well as the low morale and weak preparation of the
Azerbaijani soldiers," said the Deputy Foreign Minister.

As for the negotiation process son the Karabakh conflict settlement,
Masis Mayilyan said that obviously, the upcoming elections in Armenia
and NKR will affect the pace of the negotiations. Next autumn the
talks are expected to become more active.