OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS CONFESS THAT NEGOTIATIONS ON NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT PROCEED WITH DIFFICULTY
Noyan Tapan
Jun 07 2007
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, NOYAN TAPAN. During the June 7 meeting with the
NKR president Arkady Ghukasian, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Yuri
Merzlyakov, Bernard Fassier and Matthew Bryza noted that negotiations
are proceeding with difficulty. According to them, it is necessary
to make some progress, which is expected from the conflict parties.
According to a press release of the Permanent Representation of the NKR
in Armenia, at the request of the co-chairs the NKR president presented
the position of the Karabakh side. Arkady Ghukasian underlined that
the negotiation format determined by the OSCE Budapest summit needs to
be restored, saying that the negotiations cannot lead to the expected
result without the full participation of Nagorno Karabakh.
The NKR president said that the foundation-stone of negotiations is
the issue of status of Nagorno Karabakh, while all the other issues
are the consequences of the conflict, and it is necessary to specify
the formulations of the issues under discussion.
Arkady Ghukasian noted that it is impossible to reach a compromise
in today’s atmosphere of hatred and distruit between the conflict
parties. He proposed that the mediators should get definite guarantees
from all the conflict parties that they will not use force and make
threats.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs assured A. Ghukasian that they share
the concerns of the Karabakh side.