Armenia not to compromise with Azerbaijan over Karabakh – expert
Yeni Musavat, Baku
12 Jan 05
Excerpt from Elsad’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat on
12 January headlined “Karabakh discussions in Prague” and subheaded
“Rasim Musabayov: Armenia will not overcome its desire”
Another meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers
initiated and attended by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen was held in
Prague yesterday [11 January].
[Passage omitted: Azeri minister said that the country’s territorial
integrity and a swap of territories had not been discussed]
Specific details of the talks were not made public this time
either. It seems that the Azerbaijani people will again have to wait
for revelations by Armenian sources in order to get detailed
information.
To recap, in his statements before the meeting, [Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister] Elmar Mammadyarov said that time had expired for the
exchange of opinions and the sides should hold logical discussions. We
wonder if the Azerbaijani minister could get what he had expected from
the Prague talks.
[Passage omitted: the Armenian minister said that “we have to be ready
for compromises”]
Political analyst Rasim Musabayov had difficulty commenting on the
talks since its details are not known. In his opinion, since Armenians
gave their consent to the stage-by-stage settlement plan a few days
ago, one can think that a territorial swap, the status of Nagornyy
Karabakh and the complete pull-out of Armenians from Azerbaijan were
not the focus of the talks.
“It is difficult to say whether the co-chairmen will submit a specific
document to the sides after the talks. It is easy to reach general
agreement rather than to submit a specific document and agree on it.”
Musabayov also touched on [Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan]
Oskanyan’s opinions about compromises.
“Armenia will not overcome its desire. The talk might be only about
their pull-out from a certain area in exchange for guarantees that
Azerbaijan will never start a war. This means that we admit the
Armenian occupation of Nagornyy Karabakh and adjacent districts.
Armenia wants Azerbaijan at least to sign such a document but this
cannot be done.”
The next meeting of the ministers has been set for late February.