LAVROV’S ANNOUNCEMENTS AT LEAST ALARMING
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
09 Oct 2008
Armenia

In response to the questions of the correspondent of "Hayots
Ashkharh" daily head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NKR
National Assembly Vahram Atanesyan touches upon the accentuations of
"Karabakh" in Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview
given to "Rosiyskaya Gazeta".

"To start with, the announcements made by Mr. Lavrov in that interview
don’t match with the one made earlier by RF Foreign Ministry, according
to which Karabakh conflict must be solved based on the principle of
respecting Karabakh people’s right to sovereignty, something that
seemed to reflect the approaches adopted by Minsk Group Co-Chairmen,
particularly Russia.

The conversation is firstly about the accentuation made by Mr. Lavrov
saying that Armenia’s opportunities are strictly limited in political,
geopolitical, and communicational terms. It is more alarming that the
RF Foreign Minister, in essence hints that the other conflicting party,
Azerbaijan has "great opportunities" for choice and alternatives,
which in my view is beyond diplomatic ethics.

Particularly if we consider the fact that Russia is OSCE Co-Chairman
country. In this circumstance emphasizing the "advantages" of one
conflicting party and the "limited opportunities" of the ot her is
far from being a neutral stance.

It is startling also because Sergey Lavrov made this accentuation
against the background of Turkey’s emphasized activeness in the region
and the latter’s affectations to raise its influence.

In fact the Russian Foreign Minister indirectly links the success of
the negotiation process with Turkey’s role, hinting that Turkey can
ensure communicational alternatives for Armenia, exit to the world,
of which Armenia was deprived during the Georgian-Ossetian conflict
and after it.

Maybe my concern is exaggerated, but at least for me Lavrov’s interview
was alarming."

"Did RF Foreign Minister say anything new about the main process of
the negotiations, or he simply repeated the famous reality, such as
the majority of the settlement principles is agreed, except certain
matters of concern, about which the two parties haven’t yet reached
an agreement."

"In general he didn’t say anything new. But as a representative of
a Co-Chairman country he gave a possibility to Azerbaijani party to
make revelations regarding proposals discussed.

Sergey Lavrov recorded that there are two-three issues not agreed
upon. One of them is the status of Lachin corridor, which was followed
by the revelation made by an Azerbaijani high-ranking official,
who said that the status of Nagorno Karabakh and Lachin corridor as
well as the distribution of the peace- keeping forces are not agreed
upon. Whereas not only should the parties maintain the confidentiality
of the negotiations, but also the mediators, and this fact is also
no less alarming.

Thus if we take into consideration Mr. Lavrov’s commentaries, Russia
has already discussed its stance on Karabakh, with Azerbaijan and
Turkey. This fact is also alarming. Moreover it seems the stances of
the "parties" and their actions are agreed upon.

Maybe they think if in the beginning of the past century Karabakh’s
legal-political status quo has been decided by the mediation of Russia
and Turkey, the same can happen today. Or if Russia has unilaterally
recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, then they
must provide services for Turkey for the latter’s loyalty.

"At the expense of Karabakh?"

"I would like to abstain from similar formulations. Our stance,
the position of Karabakh party, and my own standpoint is that the
issue must be settled by mutual concessions. We don’t want unilateral
recognition, if it is going to make new demarcation lines. But we also
don’t agree to the idea that the existing demarcation lines must be
mitigated to the detriment of NKR’s sovereignty and the security of
Karabakh people.

The settlement of the conflict through mutual concessions must be based
on agreement reached by the direct dialogue between Nagorno Karabakh
and Azerbaijan. In my view the diplomatic efforts of the Co-Chairmen,
including Russia must be based on reducing the direct parties to the
conflict, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh to the same denominator,
which is – the conflict doesn’t have any other alternative except
peaceful settlement.

To be continued