SERZH SARGSIAN: "THE PIVOTAL ISSUE OF KARABAKH CONFLICT IS THE STATUS OF NAGORNO KARABAKH"
By Aghavni Haroutiunian
AZG Armenian Daily
23/05/2009
International; Armenia-Croatia
"It is better to negotiate ten years than to be at war ten days"
In a constructive atmosphere of mutual understanding, RA President
Serzh Sargsian with his Croatian counterpart Styepan Mesich discussed
the present state and prospects of Armenian-Croatian relations,
also regional and international issues of mutual interests.
At a joint press conference yesterday Serzh Sargsian added that
taking into consideration Croatia’s experience in the recent past the
sides discussed also issues of conflicts settlement, their peaceful
solution and negotiations. The Armenian President accepted his Croatian
counterpart’s invitation to pay an official visit to Croatia. According
to him, it will take place this year.
Croatian President Styepan Mesich in his turn underlined that the
first visit gave an opportunity to know each other more deeply and
though Armenia geographically is out of Europe, Croatia is interested
in having relations with our country. He said that Croatia is ready
to exchange the experience that it gained after the collapse of
Yugoslavia.
What about the information that Armenia hardened its position on
Karabakh conflict, the Armenian President didn’t agree with those
qualifications. "I don’t think that Armenia has hardened its position
on the negotiations with Azerbaijan. It is not our definition. The
pivotal issue of Karabakh conflict is the status of Nagorno Karabakh,
and if we put the question point-blank, it doesn’t matter that we
harden our position", Serzh Sargsian mentioned.
According to the Armenian President, Armenia is ready to continue
the negotiations, the next meeting at the level of presidents, will
be probably held in St. Petersburg at the beginning of June. "I hope
that after that meeting the Azerbaijani media will not try to change
the meaning of our meeting", Serzh Sargsian said.
In the context of absence of an alternative to the peaceful
negotiations of the settlement of Karabakh conflict Styepan Mesich
said that after the collapse of Yugoslavia the sides tried to solve
the borders’ issue in military way, but they only had victims and
the borders didn’t change.
And when Yugoslavia collapsed, the Kosovo issue remained. According
to the Croatian president, at that time Serbia didn’t have resources
to establish its power in Kosovo, and couldn’t even conduct
negotiations. The only way out of the situation was declaration of
Kosovo independence and recognition of it by some European states.
Touching upon the pessimistic statements in the context of
Armenian-Turkish relations, the Armenian President wished not to
respond to the provocations of the sides’ mass media.
Serzh Sargsian underscored that Armenian-Turkish relations differ
from the negotiations of Karabakh conflict settlement. Those are
very difficult issues and solution of them should take too much
efforts. "It is evident that in this way there will be optimists and
pessimists in both Armenia and Turkey, and other countries as well",
Armenian President mentioned.
The Croatian president underlined that in Armenian-Turkish relations
the only way out is negotiations. "It is better to negotiate ten
years than to be at war ten days", he said.