ARMENIAN OFFICIALS SANGUINE ON AZERI MOVE AT UN
Ruben Meloyan

Armenialiberty.org
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Aug 27 2009

Officials in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have taken in its stride
Baku’s new attempt to secure the passage of a United Nations resolution
calling for an end to ‘Armenian occupation’ of internationally
recognized Azerbaijani territories.

The issue of ‘occupied Azerbaijani territories’ is expected to be on
the agenda of the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly
to be held in New York, U.S., on September 23-30.

A spokesman for the president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh
republic described Azerbaijan’s move as ‘predictable’ and said it
would only complicate the internationally mediated talks currently
conducted between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"What they are doing makes impossible not only a compromise but also
possible involvement of other states in this process. Because if one
side does not want to make any concession, what unilateral concessions
can we speak about?" David Babayan told RFE/RL. "Baku’s interpretation
of the Madrid principles only implies the philosophy of unilateral
concessions, which is unacceptable. By this manner of action Baku once
again makes such a development impossible, which is positive for us."

Meanwhile, Armenian Foreign Ministry acting spokesman Tigran Balayan
commented very briefly on Azerbaijan’s expected move at the UN in
September.

"The agenda of every UN General Assembly session is decided on the
first day of this session," said Balayan.

In March 2008, the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly passed a
resolution that referred to Nagorno-Karabakh as an internationally
recognized part of Azerbaijan. It also demanded an "immediate,
complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces" from occupied
Azerbaijani lands.

The resolution was supported by 39 and rejected by seven UN member
states. More than 150 other nations abstained or did not vote.

The passage of the resolution followed a major skirmish at the
Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact in Karabakh in early March, only
days after authorities in Yerevan suppressed a massive opposition
demonstration protesting the outcome of a presidential election.

Before that, Armenia’s then Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian had said
Armenia would withdraw from the peace process if the Baku-submitted
resolution were adopted. Armenia, however, continued talks with
Azerbaijan later that year.

The Karabakh leader’s spokesman Babayan stressed in this regard that
it was mainly Islamic states that voted in favor of the resolution
last year and that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries,
namely the United States, France and Russia, spoke and voted against
the resolution. Babayan said Azerbaijan could also use the ‘Islamic
factor’ at the upcoming session.

Meanwhile, Armenia’s former foreign minister and former representative
to the UN Aleksandr Arzumanian slammed Armenia’s ‘reactive’ diplomacy
in this matter and stressed that "no document that portrays Armenia
as an occupier can be suitable for Yerevan or Stepanakert."

"Armenian diplomacy should have taken counter steps to disrupt
Azerbaijan’s consistent efforts. This is the result of the weak work
by our diplomats," said Arzumanian, currently a leading member of
the Armenian opposition. "An attempt will be made at every session
[of the UN General Assembly] to use sharper words and include new
elements [in the resolution]."

Arzumanian said only a ‘pro-active’ diplomatic effort can change the
situation at the UN.

"These questions could have been resolved years ago through Armenia’s
trying to introduce own resolutions to the agenda of the UN General
Assembly session. It isn’t yet late to do that. But nothing has been
done in this direction," concluded Arzumanian.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress