FOREIGN MINISTER TELLING ABOUT KOCHARIAN-ALIEV MEETING
By A. Haroutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
15/06/2007

The June 9 meeting of presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan and Armenia,
Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliev, proved fruitless against common
optimistic expectations. The results of the meeting seem like causing
a temporary in the negotiation process.

Predictions say even the worse: a number of experts and political
scientists are sure that the negotiations on Karabakh shall not
progress for 10 more years.

In an interview to "Kentron" TV Channel, Armenia, Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian stated that most probably the presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan will meet again during the next CIS summit, which is
to be held in early October 2007.

"Today we have a three-page document on the negotiation table,
which includes all principles applicable for the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. That is a rather complicated document and
is a result of the two year-long negotiation process of the Presidents
and Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan," said Mr. Oskanian.

The Foreign Minister said that he has some portion optimism on the
matter, nevertheless. He said that the document is consistent and
reciprocally compromised.

He added that of course there are certain articles, which cannot
satisfy both the sides of the conflict, and the most important terms
are yet to be settled.

According to Mr. Oskanian, the document is based upon the principle
of complex measures, while Azerbaijan still insist on step-by-step
model of settlement.

The Armenian Foreign Minister admitted that the actions provided
in the document could be performed by turns, but everything must be
made agree and prearranged beforehand. He once again stressed that
without final determination of the official international status
of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh via referendum, without having
established land communication between the Republics of Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh and without having insuried the security of both
the republics, no other questions can be considered.

"Those three terms," said the Foreign Minister, "are by no means
pre-conditions on Armenia’s part, but logical background for the
resolution of the conflict and lie in its basis. I think that Armenia
and Karabakh have made progress in that way. Today the positions
of Armenia and Karabakh in that question are firm and the further
steps shall be made in the same direction. There are international
tendencies that Azerbaijan cannot neglect".

"If Kosovo gains independence, the positions of Armenia shall be
strengthened, and still remain unchanged. There is a problem about
Kosovo, that the West, seeking to comfort a number of states, Georgia
for example, insists that the case of Kosovo cannot be taken for a
precedent for resolution of other local conflicts. Our task is not
to permit the international society to persist in that position and
that the independence of Kosovo shall be the end of story and that
other processes cannot go beyond certain limit.

We have to struggle against that and we do so," stated Oskanian.

Commenting on the role of the mediators in the peace process on
Karabakh Vardan Oskanian said, "The USA are a little hasty, while
Russia makes nothing to slacken the process. Russia, perceiving its
global politics, does not want to be involved in the process more
than the OSCE Minsk Group Mandate provides".

Meanwhile the consideration of the idea of a new Kocharian-Aliev
meeting in autumn is being started, the World Crisis Group is preparing
another rapport.

Azerbaijani mass media, referring to head of the World Crisis Group
project in Caucasus, Magdalena Freecheva, inform that the rapport will
represent the approach of the international public to the conflict and
the dynamics of the peace process. It is said that the World Crisis
Group this time is to drive its attention to the influence of gas
and oil incomes on the process of conflict settlement. According to
information retrieved from "Panarmenian.net" website, Ms. Freecheva
is not expected to visit Yerevan in the observable future.