DEMANDING CONCESSIONS FROM YEREVAN
by Yuri Simonjan

WPS Agency
What the Papers Say (Russia)
August 1, 2008 Friday
Russia

TALKS OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH WILL TAKE PLACE IN MOSCOW, PROTESTS IN
ARMENIA; Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers are to meet in
Moscow and discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers Edward Nalbandjan and Elmar
Mamedjarov are meeting in Moscow today to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement. The Armenian delegation will be at a certain
disadvantage because radical opposition in Yerevan headed by the
first president Levon Ter-Petrosjan has scheduled a protest action
for this day.

Nalbandjan called a press conference prior to his departure for
Moscow and said that the negotiations with his Azerbaijani opposite
number had been arranged by the OSCE Minsk Group (United States,
France, Russia). The diplomat said that Mamedjarov and he intended
to discuss the OSCE Minsk Group’s Madrid offers, the ones on whose
basis the presidents of the two countries had pledged to continue the
peace talks. Made public in November 2007, the offers in question
constitute basic principles of conflict settlement. No details are
known to general public, but foreign intermediaries unanimously call
the plan "fair and well-balanced".

Discounting minor disagreements, Yerevan and Baku cannot agree
on what really counts and that is status of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic. Azerbaijan calls it its own territory, Armenia insists on
its sovereignty. Neither would even hear of a concession. For the
Armenians, however, the situation is further complicated by the
knowledge that any compromise with the Azerbaijanis – no matter
how minor – will be condemned by the opposition as a sign of
weakness. Nalbandjan called actions of the opposition in Yerevan
unacceptable. "Claims of the opposition that ex-president Robert
Kocharjan should be extradited to the Hague for the tribunal there
are worse then absurd. They are shameful," the minister said. The
opposition meanwhile continues the process of collection of signatures
on the petition and claims to have more than 100,000 already.

Supporters of Ter-Petrosjan who founded the Popular Movement and who
question the outcome of the presidential election earlier this year
(February 19) promise a major protest action in Yerevan today.

The West in the meantime keeps badgering official Yerevan to continue
the policy of compromises with the opposition. "Unless the authorities
in Armenia do something to heal the split, tension in Armenian society
will mount," David Kramer of the US Department of State said the other
day. "All elements of society must participate in the dialogue and act
responsibly but responsibility mostly rests with whoever wields power."