168 Zham, Armenia
May 12 2009

They are in panic

There is a panic in government circles due to yesterday’s [11 May]
statements by the US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group, Matthew Bryza,
that territories should be returned to Azerbaijan step by step and the
return of refugees should be ensured.

The head of the information department of the Armenian Foreign
Ministry, Tigran Balayan, responded to this statement first. "The
issue of withdrawal [from Azerbaijani territories around Nagornyy
Karabakh] was not discussed at all at the meeting between the Armenian
and Azerbaijani presidents on 7 May of this year in Prague. The
discussions mainly concerned the status of Nagornyy Karabakh. This is
natural, as this is the central issue of the settlement of the Artsakh
[Karabakh] issue," he said.

A spokesperson for the [ruling] Republican Party of Armenia, Eduard
Sharmazanov, said: "I am far from thinking that the US co-chair could
have made such a statement, because only a person who does not want to
promote a peaceful settlement of the conflict would have made such a
groundless and poorly thought-out statement. Of course, if Bryza
really made such a statement, it is clear proceeding from what he made
such a statement, as it is obvious that Nagornyy Karabakh cannot be
part of Azerbaijan in any status. The status of Nagornyy Karabakh is
the key issue in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, and the Armenian side
has numerously said this: Nagornyy Karabakh was never part of
independent Azerbaijan. The people of Nagornyy Karabakh
self-determined in compliance with all norms of international law, and
as a result of the military aggression which Azerbaijan started
against it – it protected its inviolable right and established it
security guarantees. At present the people of Nagornyy Karabakh
creates its statehood successfully and establishes its own democratic
entities."