ArmenPress
July 9 2004
ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER REAFFIRMS PLANS TO VETO TURKEY’S OSCE
CHAIRMANSHIP
YEREVAN, JULY 9, ARMENPRESS: In what can be described as an
explicit indication, Armenian foreign affairs minister Vartan
Oskanian reaffirmed Thursday that Armenia would use its veto power to
prevent Turkey from assuming the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2007.
Oskanian had first disclosed this plan during a talk at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington on June
14.
In response to a question what his vision of the OSCE was Oskanian
said, as was cited by California Courier online: “Armenia has the
veto power, which we will use, because Turkey has not risen to the
occasion. We cannot allow a country to be chairman in office with
which we don’t have diplomatic ties. We cannot allow a country to be
chairman in office of OSCE which negotiates the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict, and the chairman has certain rights and privileges that can
be used against Armenia, especially given Turkey’s policy in these
past 12 years towards the region, which has been extremely
unbalanced, and given its unequivocal support and solidarity toward
Azerbaijan and one-sided policy toward Nagorno Karabagh.”
Drawing parallels with the European Union, Oskanian said Thursday
in Yerevan that the chairmanship of the European Commission has to be
represented by a country that is directly involved in all EU
programs. “The announcement that Armenia would use its veto power not
to allow Turkey to take up the OSCE chairmanship is conditioned by
this circumstance and is not aimed to start trading with Turkey,”
Oskanian said.
In a reference to the weekend visit of the OSCE Minsk group
chairmen to the region Oskanian said they are not bringing new
proposals for the resolution of the Karabagh conflict, as “the
negotiations on the level of Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers and presidents have not built sufficient grounds for them
to offer written proposals.” Oskanian said the meetings in Yerevan,
Baku and Stepanakert will be of consultative character.