LAWMAKER DENIES NAGORNO-KARABAKH BARRED FROM PEACE TALKS
Interfax
Nov 5 2008
Russia
Armenia’s chief envoy to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE) denied a claim by Armenian opposition politicians that a
declaration issued at an Armenian-Azeri summit on Sunday means that
Nagorno-Karabakh has forever been barred from talks to settle the
conflict over Azerbaijan’s disputed enclave.
"In general, I assess the Moscow declaration positively and can’t
accept the opinion that Nagorno-Karabakh has been ousted from
negotiations," David Arutiunian, head of the Armenian parliament’s
permanent commission on state law, told reporters on Wednesday.
Arutiunian argued that the main point of the declaration, which
the Armenian and Azeri presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev,
signed during a meeting in Moscow, was that the two countries "have
reached an agreement to continue peace negotiations."
"However, I believe that peace negotiations are impossible without
active participation by Nagorno-Karabakh," Arutiunian added.
Arutiunian also argued that the recent conflict in Georgia offered
extra proof that conflicts of the Nagorno-Karabakh type cannot be
solved in a military way.