ARMENIAN MINISTER BLAMES AZERBAIJAN FOR LACK OF PROGRESS IN KARABAKH TALKS
Public Television of Armenia
May 13 2009
[Presenter] The 119th session of the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe has been held in Madrid. Foreign Minister Edvard
Nalbandyan was among delegates from 47 countries, who took part
in the meeting within the framework of events dedicated to the 60th
anniversary of the establishment of the Council of Europe. Preparatory
works for the election of the EC secretary-general and intermediary
measures of the 14th protocol of European Convention of Human Rights,
which will allow increasing efficiency of the European Court of Human
Rights, were discussed. The Armenian foreign minister also made a
speech at the session.
[Correspondent speaking over video of the session] In his speech
Nalbandyan stressed the Council of Europe’s role in establishing
stable and peaceful continent and also spoke about the settlement
process of the Nagornyy Karabakh issue. He said that the concern of
the people of Karabakh for their security had been the basis of the
legal demand for the right of self-determination. Azerbaijan opposed
to this by force – started with ethnic cleansing and then passed on
to a large-scale aggression against Karabakh, involving mercenaries
connected with terrorist groups.
While speaking about the negotiation process Minister Nalbandyan
stressed that the sides had been quite close to the settlement in 2001,
however due to the nonconstructive position of Azerbaijan and [its]
rejection of achieved agreements, it did not take place. The Armenian
foreign minister said that Azerbaijan’s nonconstructive approach had
continued in 2007 – in the form of rejecting for months the Madrid
proposals suggested by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
Nalbandyan assessed the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents, and the declarations and statements issued in Moscow
and Helsinki in 2008 as signs of progress in the peace process. He
expressed the hope that if the Azerbaijani leadership gave up its
nonconstructive approach and stopped belligerent and anti-Armenian
propaganda, then the negotiations within the framework of the Minsk
Group could bring the positions of the sides closer to each other
and lead to the settlement of the issue.