ACCORDING TO ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, AZERBAIJAN INITIATES PROCESS OF DISSOLVING OSCE MINSK GROUP
Noyan Tapan
March 19, 2008
YEREVAN, MARCH 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia has some information that
Azerbaijan is trying to start the process of dissolving the OSCE Minsk
Group by means of the OSCE Secretariat, the Armenian foreign minister
Vartan Oskanian stated in the RA National Assembly on March 19. He
said that Azerbaijan is doing everything in order to ruin the Minsk
process. Attempts have been made for several years to pass the process
to the UN, which has finally resulted in adoption of the resolution
which calls on Armenia to leave Azerbaijan’s territories.
According to V. Oskanian, this resolution passed by the UN recently is
a decision of advisory character and has no mandatory force. However,
Armenia should draw a lesson from this fact, while Azerbaijan,
according to the foreign minister, should also make up some conclusions
as in fact the majority of UN members states do not share Azerbaijan’s
approach. In the words of V. Oskanian, it is thanks to the "painstaking
work" of Armenian diplomats that over 100 UN member states abstained
from voting.
The Armenian foreign minister said that Azerbaijan’s addressing
the resolution at this moment is mainly related to the declaration
of Kosovo’s independence and its concern that it can be used as
a precedent for the Karabakh problem. He did not rule out that the
choice of the moment has also some relation to the internal situation
in Armenia.
Responding to questions of MPs, V. Oskanian said that Armenia will
announce its position on recognition or nonrecognition of Kosovo’s
independence.