OSKANIAN CONCERNED BY TER-PETROSIAN STATEMENT ON KARABAKH
By Anna Saghabalian and Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Sept 27 2007
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian expressed concern Thursday about
former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s latest criticism of Armenia’s
policy towards the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying that it could
make Azerbaijan more intransigent.
In his first public speech in nearly a decade, Ter-Petrosian referred
on Friday to the unresolved state of the conflict as the "greatest
crime" committed by the current Armenian government. He said Azerbaijan
is less and less prepared to make concessions to the Armenian side
because of its soaring oil revenues, a large part of them channeled
into a military build-up.
"From now on, they will not agree to any concessions. I don’t know what
needs to be done to get out of this situation," stated Ter-Petrosian.
"The Karabakh problem concerns all of us, the entire nation, and we
must be really careful in our statements to avoid giving Azerbaijan
more reason to toughen its position," Oskanian said, commenting on
the remarks. "I am concerned that the recently made statement may
have such a consequence."
Samvel Nikoyan, a senior member of the governing Republican Party
(HHK), went farther, accusing Ter-Petrosian, widely acclaimed in
Azerbaijan for his more conciliatory line, of seeking to create a
"mood of defeatism and panic" in Armenia. He also said Ter-Petrosian
will stand no chance of returning to power if he decides to contest
next year’s presidential election.
"The public wants to see a person with a strong will hold the post of
president," Nikoyan told a news briefing. "Woe to the country whose
president can be forced by his ministers to step down."
Ter-Petrosian was forced to resign in early 1998 under pressure from
his key administration members, including then Prime Minister Robert
Kocharian, for advocating an international peace plan on Karabakh
which they rejected as "defeatist." The plan put forward by the OSCE
Minsk Group called for the liberation of most of the Armenian-occupied
Azerbaijani districts around Karabakh and would indefinitely delay
agreement on the disputed region’s status.
Kocharian and his allies stood for a "package" peace accord that
would recognize and legitimize Karabakh’s secession from Soviet
Azerbaijan. But that did not prevent the Kocharian administration
from largely accepting the Minsk Group’s existing peace proposals
that also envisage a gradual settlement of the dispute
Oskanian and other Armenian officials have argued that unlike the 1997
peace deal advocated by Ter-Petrosian, those proposals stipulate that
Karabakh’s status will be determined in a referendum to be eventually
held in the Armenian-populated territory. Ter-Petrosian allies counter
that they set no time frame for the holding of such a referendum and
do not specify its practical modalities.
Oskanian also confirmed on Thursday that he and Azerbaijan’s Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will hold separate talks with the Minsk
Group’s U.S., French and Russian co-chairs on the sidelines of the UN
General Assembly in New York next week. He said the talks will be a
"continuation of what the co-chairs presented to Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Karabakh during their last visit" to the conflict zone.
"Particularly interesting will be Azerbaijan’s response to that,"
he added without elaborating.
The mediators toured the conflict zone last week without announcing
an agreement on a fresh meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents. They hope that the two leaders will make another attempt
to cut a framework peace deal before the presidential elections due
in both Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2008.
While in New York, Oskanian will also meet with Turkey’s new Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan. "The main question for us will be whether
there will be changes in Turkish policy towards Armenia after the
re-appointment of the [Turkish] government with a new mandate," he
told journalists. "Armenia’s position remains the same: to normalize
[Turkish-Armenian] relations without preconditions."