TRANSITIONAL STATUS MUST BE ESTABLISHED FOR KARABAKH DURING CONFLICT SETTLEMENT PROCESS: FRENCH DIPLOMAT

ARKA
March 12, 2010

YEREVAN, March 12, /ARKA/. The French cochairman of the OSCE Minsk
Group, Bernard Fassier, said today in Yerevan a transitional status
must be established for Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) during the
conflict settlement process. He was speaking at a Rose Roth seminar
organized by the Parliamentary Assembly of the NATO.

He said any conflict solution option must provide for a transitional
status for Nagorno-Karabakh ensuring its security, a progressive
return of Armenian-controlled territories (to Azerbaijan), as well
as the return of Azerbaijani refugees to their previous homes in
Nagorno-Karabakh, preservation of an overland corridor between Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh and deployment of international (peacekeeping)
forces.

He said the Kosovo precedent is often mentioned in the context of
efforts aimed at the solution of the Karabakh conflict. This is why,
he said, peace brokers suggest that all aspects of the issue which
can be solved, be solved and the status issue be left for future,
as was the case in Kosovo.

"This is why it is necessary to establish a transitional status for
Nagorno-Karabakh unless the international community recognizes its
independence,’ the French diplomat said.

In his words, the Kosovo precedent has made Azerbaijan more cautious,
restraint and careful, while Armenians in Armenia proper and
Nagorno-Karabakh it as a solution option.

"However, what was possible in Kosovo, is impossible in
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is not recognized by any country, neither by
Armenia,’ Bernard Fassier said, adding that the differences between
Kosovo and Nagorno-Karabakh are greater than similarities.

‘The Kosovo problem emerged within one state, while the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a conflict between several sides,’
he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress