ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE KARABAKH CONFLICT WITHOUT STEPANAKERT MAY LEAD TO CONFLICT ESCALATION – STATEMENT

Interfax
July 16 2009
Russia

Progress at the talks on the settlement of the conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh is possible only given Stepanakert’s full-scale
involvement in them, the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh declared on Wednesday.

"Any attempts to return the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh to the past
are not simply counterproductive but fraught with the new escalation
of the conflict," the statement says.

"Real progress at the talks is possible only given the full-scale
involvement of the republic in all stages of the negotiating
process. No agreement affecting the interests and future of the
republic can be made without the involvement of it people or leadership
that bears primary responsibility for its future," the statement says.

"Given the above we believe that the distorted negotiating process
must be reset, the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh returned to the
negotiating table as a full-fledged party to the negotiations and the
basic principles of the settlement transformed," the statement says.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress