ARMENIANS OPPOSED TO CONFLICT SETTLEMENT OUTLINE: POLL

AzerNews Weekly
Sept 1 2009
Azerbaijan

Armenia`s population is opposed to the Madrid principles, an outline
for settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh proposed by international mediators in 2007, a recent opinion
poll has found.

61.3 percent of the people polled by the Research Center for Political
Development claimed the proposed peace outline is unacceptable for
Armenia, according to the local News.am website.

About 21 percent of those polled spoke in favor of the Madrid
principles, while 14 percent had difficulty answering the question.

Vaan Dilanyan, the head of the center, told journalists that
the Armenian public and Armenian residents of Upper Garabagh, an
Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation, are opposed to making
concessions.

"This is due to the fact that there are provisions in the Madrid
principles that are absolutely unacceptable for us. The key ones are
the issue of Lachin and Kalbajar [districts]," Dilanyan said.

The Armenian analyst believes that the governments of both Armenia
and Azerbaijan should either convince their citizens to accept the
Madrid principles and disrupt the status quo or agree with their
citizens and reject the document. He added that the latter option
cannot ensure "a certain future."

The basic principles for the conflict settlement, presented by the US,
Russian and French intermediaries in the Spanish capital, call for "the
return of the territories surrounding Upper Garabagh to Azerbaijani
control." Five of the districts are to be vacated immediately,
while the remaining two strategic districts – Lachin and Kalbajar –
are to be handed over during a five year period. In the meantime, an
interim status for Upper Garabagh providing guarantees for security and
self-government is envisioned. The outline also covered "a corridor
linking Armenia to Upper Garabagh" as well as a future determination
of the final legal status of Upper Garabagh "through a legally binding
expression of will" and the right of "internally displaced persons
and refugees to return to their former places of residence."