Principles of Madrid are inadmissible but talks will continue
05-04-2008 15:05:34 – KarabakhOpen
The principles of Madrid are initially inadmissible for the Karabakh
side since some of them contradict to the NKR Constitution, stated the
chair of the NKR National Assembly Committee of Foreign Relations
Vahram Atanesyan. On the same day the NKR minister of foreign affairs
Georgy Petrosyan said the Armenian side needs to correct its approaches
toward the talks, especially in the context of the changing
geopolitical reality.
In the meantime, after the NATO summit in Bucharest the president elect
of Armenia, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan voiced concern about the
diplomatic moves of Azerbaijan and the recent incident on the line of
contact between the armed force of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, as
well as reasserted the readiness of Armenia to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through peace talks mediated by the OSCE
Minsk Group, on the basis of the document on the table of the talks.
During the press conference in Bucharest Serge Sargsyan stated that he
will share impressions from the talks after he meets with the other
side of the conflict. According to him, the co-chairs are optimistic
and they have every reason for that. Answering the question of the
journalist when a meeting with the president of Azerbaijan may take
place, Sargsyan said he has already stated that he is not against
meetings during the summit, if the other side is also willing.
The Minsk Group co-chair Matthew Bryza also shared his impressions with
the Armenian reporters. He said they know the president elect, they
know what kind of person he is and they can continue the talks with
him. Most importantly, he said, after the inauguration of the president
of Armenia the presidents will have a possibility to meet and get in
touch and they are waiting for such an opportunity, Matthew Bryza said.
With regard to the rejection of Azerbaijan, the U.S. co-chair said he
thinks Azerbaijan also agrees that the process should continue despite
some disagreement. He is convinced that the process will continue, at
the same time voicing hope that it will last not very long and will
soon be over.
Bryza said today was the beginning, the inauguration of the president
of Armenia has not taken place yet, and we must go on step by step. He
also said that the OSCE Minsk Group mediates the talks and there is no
urgent need for changing the current format of the talks.
Earlier the OSCE Minsk Group proposed a meeting of the president elect
of Armenia Serge Sargsyan with the president of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev, however, Baku rejected the proposal.
The president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev who participated in the NATO
summit in Bucharest met with the OSCE Minks Group co-chairs on April 2.
The head of the department of international relations of the
Azerbaijani president administration Novruz Mammedov told the
Azerbaijani media that the meeting took place in a tense atmosphere.
Mammedov said a wide-range of issues regarding the talks for Karabakh
were discussed, Ilham Aliyev demanded explanation from the Minsk Group
co-chairs regarding their stance during the vote to the UN resolution.
`For their part, the co-chairs said they uphold the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan,’ APA reports.