CO-CHAIRS: THE MAIN PRINCIPLES CAN AND MUST BE AGREED UPON THIS YEAR

armradio.am
16.01.2008 15:39

"Now it is still impossible to find a mutually beneficial solution.

However, this year the main principles of the Karabakh conflict
resolution can and must be agreed upon," Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov said after the meeting with NKR President
Bako Sahakyan in Stepanakert.

According to Merzlyakov, after coming to agreement on the main
principles the elaboration of the text of the agreement will start,
which is impossible without Nagorno Karabakh, since it refers to the
life of the Karabakhi people."

French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier noted that there is hope that the year
2008 will become decisive for a breakthrough and accomplishment of
the process of reaching agreement on the main principles. He informed
that during the visits to Baku and Yerevan the Co-Chairs raised the
question of how to involve the representatives of Nagorno Karabakh
in the negotiations.

Asked about the possibility of applying the Kosovo precedent in the
Karabakh conflict resolution, Bernard Fassier noted that unlike the
Kosovo, the Karabakh issue is not an internal political affair. "These
are different situations and the Karabakh is issue is rather complex,"
he underlined.

NKR President Bako Sahakyan reconfirmed the position of Nagorno
Karabakh.

"The most important for us is to reach an international recognition
of NKR independence," he underlined.

Speaking about the main principles of settlement, the leader of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic noted that a number of points of the document
on the bargaining table do not meet the interests of Nagorno Karabakh.

Simultaneously, Bako Sahakyan mentioned that NKR security cannot be
a matter of dispute.

The President underlined that the militant rhetoric of Azerbaijan does
not further the constructive development of the negotiation process.