Provisional status without preconditions

19-03-2007 12:46:57 – KarabakhOpen

After the talks in Geneva the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
Merzlyakov told news reporters that the basic principles that were
discussed during the meeting presuppose the solution of two underlying
problems `withdrawal of the Armenian force from the territories around
Nagorno Karabakh and granting provisional status to the unrecognized
state until a referendum on status is held. KarabakhOpen.com asked
Member of Parliament Gagik Petrosyan, Azat Hayrenik Party, to comment
on the problem of provisional status.

`Evidently, the talks over Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have reached a
deadlock. Recently the mediators have been trying to involve NKR in
the talks, which currently supposes one of these two things: either
the mediators are trying to foil the talks, which started in 1997,
through Karabakh or they have realized that it is impossible to reach
resolution without Karabakh.

Both reasons are possible. The first needs no comment, the second is
not acceptable currently, since it will turn out that we have lost 10
years,’ Gagik Petrosyan says.

There are positive things in Merzlyakov’s statement, the member of
parliament says. The mediators and Azerbaijan should take into account
the reality and accept the de facto situation. `I would offer to the
mediators to grant a provisional status to NKR without preconditions,
and afterwards change the format of the talks, in which Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Karabakh would be full-right participants. I think this
is an optimal way for a rapid resolution of the conflict. Without a
provisional status of Karabakh the involvement of NKR in the ongoing
talks is not acceptable,’ Gagik Petrosyan says.