Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Dec 1 2006
ONLY SOLUTION TO NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT IS HOLDING OF REFERENDUM
IN NKR, VARTAN OSKANIAN SAYS
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN. "I consider the meeting between
Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents held lately in Minsk within the
framework of Nagorno Karabakh settlement as positive and subject: it
passed in rather constructive atmosphere." RA Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian declared this at the December 1 press conference.
He said that the negotiations have come out of the deadlock: "We
could not express such confidence about previous meetings."
V.Oskanian said that soon the Presidents will give instructions to
the Foreign Ministers of the two countries on continuing the
negotiations and on issues to be discussed during them.
V.Oskanian said that during the Minsk meeting the Presidents focused
their attention on problems that remain unsolved. "Of course, we
would like a complete agreement to exist between the Presidents over
these issues, but this is not so. Though the meeting went on
positively and some rapprochements were noticed, it will not reflect
the reality rightly if we say that they came to an agreement around
these issues," he said.
In the Foreign Minister’s words, the sides still have some
disagreements on settlement principles and especially on details
regarding the principles.
V.Oskanian stressed that the Armenian side’s position has not
changed: the problem should be settled on the basis of Nagorno
Karabakh people’s right of self-determination. As regards two opposed
principles – Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and NKR people’s
self-determination, in the Minister’s words, these principles can be
combined only by holding a referendum. By the way, the idea of
referendum was included in the Minsk Group Co-chairs’ proposals,
around which negotiations proceed today. "We see a prospect in
confronting these principles, i.e. in giving the Nagorno Karabakh
people the opportunity to decide what it wants to choose,
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity or its self-determination. This is
the only solution and, fortunately, the elements of this solution
have been already included in the document," V.Oskanian said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
