OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS DO NOT EXCLUDE POSSIBILITY OF KARABAKH’S RETURN TO NEGOTIATIONS TABLE
Noyan Tapan
Jan 17 2007
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. No decision on the settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict can be made without the consent of the
Karabakh party. OSCE Minsk Group American Co-chair Matthew Bryza said
this at the January 17 joint press conference of Co-chairs.
French Co-chair Bernard Fassier stated that the sooner the Karabakh
party is involved in the negotiations process "the better for
everyone." According to him, the reason of Karabakh party’s absence
from the negotiations is not the decision of the Co-chairs, but
the decision of the Armenian party. "Before the presidency of Robert
Kocharian they were participants of the negotiations, but after he was
elected President of Armenia he started representing the Karabakh party
as well at the negotiations." The French diplomat emphasized that the
issue of NKR’s return to the negotiations table should be decided by
the Armenian party. "This completely depends on the Armenian party
and when the NKR can join the negotiations – time will show this,"
Bernard Fassier stated.
As regards the issue of what will be the position of the Co-chairs
if the Armenian party makes such a decision, Russian Co-chair Yuri
Merzliakov stated: "We do not look so far yet, we solve problems
as they emerge. At present we do not see such a sharp necessity of
Nagorno Karabakh’s involvement in the negotiations."
Yuri Merzliakov said that such a moment may come after the coordination
of the basic principles of agreement by the current negotiations
parties. In his words, the issue of Karabakh party’s participation
in the negotiations can emerge when elaboration of agreement will be
spoken about, where a great number of details will appear and much
attention will be paid to the problems of Nagorno Karabakh.