AZERBAIJANI PARTY’S PROVOCATIONS ENDANGER KARABAKH TALKS

DeFacto Agency
June 23 2008
Armenia

The RA FM Edvard Nalbandian strongly condemned incidents that had
occurred in Armenian-Azerbaijani border on June 18. As a result of
firing commenced by the Azerbaijani party two peaceful residents of
the village of Chinari, RA Tavoush region, were killed. The RA FM
expressed his most sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

"Attacks against the civilian population, killings of innocent
people and the recent steps of Azerbaijani side, in general, are
directed towards the deterioration of the situation. I believe that
all these attempts must be strongly condemned", Edvard Nalbandian
stated commenting the incident upon a request of Armenpress Agency. He
reminded of incident in the Martakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh in
the first days of March; refusal, since April, to return four Armenian
citizens; killing of an Armenian serviceman in Tavoush region and
now the killing of two civilian residents of Chinari village.

The RA FM underscored that such steps of Azerbaijani party endangered
the peace process. "One wonders whether the real goal of the
Azerbaijani side is to create additional obstacles to the continuation
of the peace talks. The demands of a number of Azerbaijani NGOs to
stop the negotiations can only be seen as an evidence of this. It is
obvious from where those NGOs are directed. These steps raise serious
concern and have to be denounced", Edvard Nalbandian noted.

Touching on the Armenian party’s stand in the Karabakh settlement, the
Armenian FM stated, "just and peaceful resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict remains a priority of Armenia’s foreign policy". "The
recognition and exercise of the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh
for self-determination is in the core of the conflict. Armenia
believes that the resolution of Nagorno-Karabagh conflict should be
based on the following principles: Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be under
the authority of Azerbaijan; Nagorno-Karabakh must have a permanent
land link to Armenia, which should be under the jurisdiction of
Armenian side; Security of the Nagorno-Karabakh population must be
guaranteed. Acceptance of these principles and their assertion in an
agreement will allow surmounting the consequences of the conflict. The
agreement in this regard should, naturally, be approved by the Karabakh
side", the RA FM stated.

Edvard Nalbandian noted Armenia remained committed to the resolution
of the conflict only through peaceful means and believed that the
creation of a confidence environment was essential for the continuation
of negotiations in a constructive manner. " The sides should refrain
from steps, which might generate additional tension and create
obstacles on the way of the peace process", the RA FM said noting
that the militaristic propaganda and threats of a possible military
solution voiced at the highest level in Azerbaijan contradicted the UN
Charter and the OSCE Founding Document, the 1975 Helsinki Final Act,
as well as the main principles of international law.

"Being engaged in the negotiations process within the OSCE Minsk Group,
Azerbaijan, at the same time, is making attempts to transfer the
resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to other international fora,
continues to distort the essence of the conflict, and carries on the
anti-Armenian propaganda at various international organizations. This
has seriously impeded the resolution of the conflict and continues to
impede", Edvard Nalbandian said, again reaffirming that Armenia was
determined to continue negotiations in the framework of OSCE Minsk
Group in order to achieve a final resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.