VARTAN OSKANIAN: THE STATE DEPARTMENT ACCEPTED ITS MISTAKE
Marlena Hovsepyan

"Radiolur"
21.03.2007 15:52

The recent meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
in Geneva showed that there are still a number of disagreements
between the sides, RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said at today’s
press conference. "The meeting was rather arduous. I cannot say we
registered progress during the meeting, but we did not make a step
back, either. That is why the decision was taken to hold another
meeting, trying to continue the negotiations and prepare ground for
the meeting of the Presidents after the parliamentary elections in
Armenia," the Minister said.

OSCE PA Rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh Goran Lenmarker had
declared recently that the final document on the resolution of
the Nagorno Karabakh issue might be signed in summer of the current
year. "Certainly, it’s a good wish, but we are not very close to that,"
the Foreign Minister noted.

The legal aspect of the Armenian side in the Karabakh issue is used,
the bases of self-determination of Karabakh are very firm, Vartan
Oskanian repeats, but we must not forget that the issue is being
discussed on the political level today and has other aspects. What
is the basis of Ilham Aliyev’s statements that the Karabakh issue
will be resolved in their favor? "Our pointers today are not the
statements of Azerbaijan, but the negotiations, the existing documents
and Azerbaijan’s stance in the talks. I have had the opportunity to
say that there are serious contradictions there. We shall be guided
by the document, the main axis of which is the issue of Karabakh’s
self-determination through a referendum. I see no problem if Aliyev
sees their interest in this context," the Minister says.

Azerbaijan is trying to prove that the Kosovo precedent cannot
be applied in case of Karabakh. Let us remind that the question
refers to the principle of self-determination of peoples. Of course,
the conflicts are different, but the Karabakh issue clearly moves
through the path of self-determination. "We see no opportunity of
turning back in the Karabakh issue. If Kosovo gains independence,
from the legal perspective it will be another ground for the policy
of self-determination for Karabakh. If is goes another way, NKR will
continue moving along its path," said Vartan Oskanian.

In the 2006 Human Rights Report of the US Department of State Nagorno
Karabakh was described as the occupied territory of Azerbaijan. This
is a document related to human rights and not the settlement of the
Karabakh issue, the Minister says. It has no legal base and does not
reflect the US policy.

Nevertheless, the formulation is incorrect, and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs presented the fact to the attention of the State
Department. "It is an obvious mistake. The Department of State accepts
that it is an incorrect formulation and should not have found place
in the document. They have promised to somehow correct it," Vartan
Oskanian said.

Turning to Armenian-Turkish relations, the Foreign Minister sated
that although the Turkish side is trying to present the opening
of the Church of the Holy Cross in the framework of improvement of
relations between the two states, the reality is different: it is a
reconstruction of a separate historic and cultural monument and has
nothing to do with the improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations.

Vartan Oskanian also mentioned that the official opening ceremony
will be attended by RA Deputy Minister of Culture Gagik Gyurjyan.