BRYZA SAYS KARABAKH PARTICIPATES IN THE TALKS
Lragir.am
17-09-2007 20:34:48
Presently there is no change of the format of the talks on the Karabakh
conflict, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs stated on September 17 in
Yerevan. The notion of format for them is the format of the Minsk
Group. According to them, the OSCE is responsible for the talks, and
the talks are mediated by the Minsk Group, and the responsibility for
conducting the talks is placed on the three-party co-chairmanship:
the United States, Russia, France. Bernard Fassier said their answer
to the question on a change of the format is no.
As to the change of the parties in the talks, more exactly the
involvement of Nagorno-Karabakh, Bernard Fassier says the sooner the
representatives of Karabakh participate in the talks, as it used to
be many years ago, the better.
The U.S. co-chair Matthew Bryza said he had never stated that the
participation of Karabakh in the talks is not expedient, as the media
reported. He said the people of Karabakh are already participating in
the talks, therefore they went to Stepanakert and listened to their
opinion, the opinion of the new leader. Bryza said they respect
the opinion of those people because the territory where they live
is concerned. In this sense, he says, we may say they are already
participating in the talks.
The co-chairs said they are against reporting the issue of the Karabakh
conflict to the UN. In particular, Azerbaijan is now making efforts
to report the issue to the UN General Assembly. The Russian co-chair
Yuri Merzlyakov said even if the issue appears on the agenda of the
UN General Assembly, and if any resolution is made, it will have
an advisory nature. Merzlyakov said the UN Council for Security is
already another thing, but reporting an issue to the Council for
Security involves a different procedure.
Merzlyakov says change of the format requires the agreement of both
sides buy they first need to learn the opinion of those people who
now deal with the resolution of the conflict. He said there was no
official request from the sides to change the format. According to
Merzlyakov, reporting the issue to the UN is not correct in either
the legal or the political aspect. The co-chairs also stated that
the militaristic statements are not helpful to the talks.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
