Interfax News Agency, Russia
March 15 2008

Armenia views UN resolution on N. Karabakh as threat to negotiations

YEREVAN

The results of the voting on a UN General Assembly resolution on
Nagorno-Karabakh are a clear reflection of the international
community’s stance on the issue, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said
in a commentary on Saturday.

"The resolution proposed by Azerbaijan was supported by only 39
countries from GUAM and the Organization of the Islamic conference.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, which are the U.S., France, and
Russia, and also Armenia and a number of other countries voted
against the resolution, and more than 150 countries either abstained
or did not take part in the voting at all," it said.

"I hope the results of the voting will serve as the international
community’s signal to Azerbaijan," Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanian said. "An overwhelming majority of UN countries rejected a
unilateral approach on this issue," he said.

"By rejecting Azerbaijan’s resolution, the international community
showed that it supports the document on the negotiating table, which
makes it possible to converge the seemingly contradictory principles
of people’s right to self-determination and the territorial integrity
of states. This document enables Armenia and Azerbaijan to move the
negotiating process ahead," he said.

Oskanian qualified the resolution as hypocritical. "On the one hand,
the document proposed by Baku is aimed at misinforming the
international community, and on the other, the resolution contains a
provision in support for the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, who had
clearly stated their disagreement with the proposed document the day
before and voted against it," he said.

"It is a question of whether Azerbaijan will continue to undermine
the peace process or will sit at the negotiating table," Oskanian
said.

Oskanian once again reaffirmed Armenian President-elect Serzh
Sargsyan’s willingness to meet with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev,
given the latter’s and the OSCE Minsk Group’s consent.

"Such an opportunity does exist," Oskanian said.

It was reported earlier that the delegates to the 62nd UN General
Assembly session passed an Azerbaijan-proposed resolution on the
situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan by 39 votes, with
seven votes against and 100 abstentions on Friday.

The resolution expresses concern that the armed conflict in and
around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan has "continued to
endanger international peace and security" and negatively affected
the humanitarian situation in the South Caucasus countries.