VARDAN OSKANIAN: IF AZERBAIJAN FINDS THAT ISSUE SHOULD BE SETTLED IN UN, NEXT STEP OF ARMENIA SHOULD BE PROVISION OF SECURITY OF KARABAKH

Noyan Tapan
March 18, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The resolution passed by the
UN has no mandatory and legal force, it is just of consultative
character. This statement was made by Vardan Oskanian, the Minister
of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, in his interview with
the Kentron TV company. It should be mentioned that by the insistance
of Azerbaijan a resolution was passed in the UN, which called Armenia
to free the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. According to the RA
Minister of Foreign Affairs, the situation is quite different today
and the fact that the OSCE co-presiding countries: Russia, France,
the United States, which are involved in the settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, voted against the resolution "is an unequivocal
call to Azerbaijan that there is one solution to this problem,
which has arisen by adoptions of resolutions," the Minister said,
quoting as an example the decision made by the UN General Assembly
yet in 1948 on the partition of Palestine: "Look, how many years have
passed." According to the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs, only one
document can bring to the solution of the issue: the document signed
by Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia.

"If Azerbaijan really believes that the contents of the resolution
will be a guide for the negotiations, we will not reach any
results. However, it fully understands that it is being done for an
internal consumption. The Minister excluded that the OSCE will be
led with these consultative suggestions of the United Nations.

In the opinion of Vardan Oskanian, the main reason for the claim of
Azerbaijan to put to the vote the resolution, which had been on the
agenda for about two years, is Kosovo and the situation of Armenia
to some extent: "They noticed a window: the breach of armistice on
the front, which was also contributed to by the adoption of this
resolution. They thought that Armenia is weak, internally split,
Ambassadors resign: they found that the moment is expedient and
claimed that it should be put to the vote."

According to the Minister, Serge Sargsian approves and Ilham Aliev
"shows signes of approval" for their possible meeting to be held
in Bukharest within the framework of the NATO’s summit on April
3-4. Vardan Oskanian expressed an opinion, according to which at the
first meeting of cognitive character the RA newly-elected President
should tell the President of Azerbaijan: "if you find that the issue
is to be settled according to your document passed in the UN, we have
nothing to speak about, let us not lose time, each of us should go
his own way, we will reconsider our position and make the next step
in the direction of providing the security of Karabakh."

In response to the question of whether Armenia will come out of
the negotation process in that case, Vardan Oskanian mentioned:
"The process will collapse by itself as there are, really, no edges
for speaking." "I hope that Azerbaijan will estimate the situation
in a right way and will understand that they cannot settle an issue
by documents passed in other organizations. they should be realist,
and continue taking the document existing today as basis, which is
a result of two-year work." The right for the self-determination
of nations and the principle of the territorial completeness of
countries have been compared in that document: "The main reason
that the co-Chairmen qualified the resolution of Azerbaijan as not
balanced is that it concerned only the territorial completeness of
Azerbaijan, the principle of the self-determination right of nations
was completely lacking."