ABSOLUTE REFUSAL OF ALL PARTIES TO KARABAKH CONFLICT TO APPLY FORCE
MUST BE FIRST AND FOREMOST "UNCONDITIONAL CONDITION"
Yerevan, July 17. ArmInfo. Absolute refusal of all the parties to
the Karabakh conflict to apply force and resume war must be the first
and foremost "unconditional condition," former OSCE MG Vladimir
Kazimirov says in his article "Discouraging From Resolution by
Threats and Blood."
Kazimirov says that by disclosing the key settlement principles the
OSCE MG co-chairs sought not only to report on their work and to
pressurize the leaders of the conflicting parties but also to start
"making ready for peace" their public opinion. Now they are
discussing pluses and minuses of the peace process but if they
actually want to ensure peace, they better give this a wider
approach.
Kazimirov says that some media have translated the report and the
statements with lots of inaccuracies, which has given rise to false
rumors. As long as more Armenians and Azeris know Russian better than
English, such documents should be made in Russian. They in Vienna
translate into English better than they in the South Caucasus – from
English, says Kazimirov.
One should not use in vain such important terms as "principles" and
"agreements" as here the question is hardly about any "basic
principles" or "framework agreements." The co-chairs have presented
just general contours but no specific principles. True, they are
trying to apply two real principles: non-application of force and
peaceful resolution of disputes. Here they must be given all-out
support. Still, it is very early yet to speak about "framework
agreement": even if there were specific principles, it would take
much time to negotiate each of them into a full value juridically
binding agreement.
Kazimirov says that one should not expect Armenia to talk Karabakh
into conceding. How can one hope to oblige Karabakh Armenians to
withdraw their troops from the five districts around Karabakh unless
they also sign to the agreement. Comprehensive agreement requires
consent of all the conflicting parties (like was the case during the
May 12 1994 truce). In this light, it is surprising to see "two
parties" mentioned in the Vienna text. Three parties to the Karabakh
conflict have long been mentioned in the OSCE documents and
recognized by the OSCE MG co-chairs. Who has changed this approach?
One can’t start by withdrawing troops from occupied territories and
then see what comes next. Peace guarantees are mentioned just
casually as secondary measure, while the first and foremost
"unconditional condition" (sine qua non) must be the guarantee of
non-application of force and non-resumption of war.
Kazimirov advises his colleagues to actively engraft commitment to
peace and non-application of force in the conflicting parties.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have repeatedly committed themselves not to
use mutual threats but they keep breaking their commitments.
Kazimirov says that the mediators should give not only the rest of
2006 but also the next two years to come as close as possible to real
peace agreement and should abstain for the time being from raising
this issue at G8 or even UN SC.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
