No agreement will be reached in the visible future

26-05-2007 13:33:51 – KarabakhOpen

Interview of the KarabakhOpen with Karabakh parliament member Gagik
Petrosyan, Azat Hayrenik Party.

KO: Mr. Petrosyan, what are your thoughts about the talks between the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries and presidents over the
pullout of force from the territories surrounding the former
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region?

The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents are not negotiating the
pullout of the Armenian force from the territories surrounding former
NKAR. They are discussing the proposals of the mediators on the basic
principles of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We
might as well have said they are discussing the return of
refugees. These are all components of the resolution of the
conflict. It is another thing that NKR does not take part in the
talks, which is due to the weakness of the mediators and the
stubbornness of Azerbaijan. However, Azerbaijan acknowledges that only
three-party talks including Armenia, Azerbaijan and NKR will lead to a
resolution. It is a matter of time, it is necessary to wait until
Azerbaijan becomes mature.

KO: In your opinion, is agreement on this issue realistic and how
should NKR react?

As I said, agreement without the leadership of NKR is impossible.
Azerbaijan’ s militaristic statements make think that no agreement
will be reached in the visible future. As to the stance of NKR on the
pullout of force from the liberated territories (which is the same as
to withdraw the given territories from under the control of NKR), if
the leaders of the three countries reach an agreement that will be
acceptable for all the parties, decision on this issue must be made by
popular voting. The people won the war at the price of lives of their
sons, and they have the right to handle these issues.