HOVHANNISIAN: DECLARATION STATES MINSK GROUP IS MAIN PLACE FOR SETTLING
CONFLICT

Yerkir.am
November 06, 2008

Vahan Hovhannisian, a member of the ARF Bureau and the leader of ARF
faction in parliament, says that the declaration signed by the
Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian presidents contains positive trends
but it also has points that raise concerns.

"We see the declaration signed by the three presidents positive in
general," Hovhannsian said. He said that the declaration states that
the conflict should be settled by peaceful means.

"During my presidential campaign, I kept saying that the most important
factor in the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations would be an agreement of
not attacking each other which could help discussing the problems in a
normal environment," Hovhannisian said.

The other key thing, which is stated in at least two points, is that
the OSCE Minsk Group is deemed as the main place where the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be settled. He pointed to one more
point, which says that any settlement should be guaranteed
internationally. "If NKR, before reaching the final independence, is
granted an interim status, then this status is guaranteed
internationally, which means that Azerbaijan will not change its mind
in the midst of a process," Hovhannisian said.

As for the points that raise concerns, Hovhannisian said that he refers
to the Madrid principles. The ARF has serious concerns in this regard.
Any territorial concession is unacceptable to the ARFT especially that
there is no real concession from Azerbaijan.

The second concern is that the declaration contains a point, according
to which, the peaceful settlement allows for developing economic and
other relations. "This point is rather an Aliyev approach which means
that no economic and other relations are possible until the
settlement," he said.

He also said that it is concerning that Nagorno-Karabakh is not
involved in the talks as a party but also expressed hope that the
Maindorf document gives such hope.