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Armenia Has A Serious Attitude To The Negotiations

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  • Armenia Has A Serious Attitude To The Negotiations

    ARMENIA HAS A SERIOUS ATTITUDE TO THE NEGOTIATIONS
    Lilit Poghosyan

    Hayots Ashkhar Daily
    31 Oct 08
    Armenia

    And what about Turkey and Azerbaijan?

    Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan yesterday convened a press
    conference with the purpose of introducing the agenda of his recent
    visits and upcoming diplomatic contacts

    Touching upon the Karabakh issue, E. Nalbandyan expressed hope that
    the high level trilateral meeting to be held in Moscow on November 3
    by the initiative of President D. Medvedev will impart a new stimulus
    to the negotiations. Before that, it is planned to hold a "preparatory
    meeting" of the three Foreign Ministers today.

    And on November 1, the Armenian and Azeri Foreign Ministers will meet
    with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group because, no matter how much
    the discussion are important and useful, "the negotiations continue
    within the frameworks of the Minsk Group," the speaker stated once
    again. "That format is effective, and there is no need to invent a
    new one."

    In general, the first ten days of November will be more than active
    and we hope - effective in terms of foreign relations. Right after the
    Sargsyan-Medvedev-Aliev meeting, the Armenian President will arrive
    in Paris where he will have meetings with the President of France,
    Speaker of the Senate and other senior officials. Then, he will meet
    with the responsible representatives of the European Union and at
    the same time, discuss issues regarding the bilateral relations.

    As to the fact that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs recently visited Baku,
    "passing round" Armenia and Karabakh, Ed. Nalbandyan sees nothing
    strange there. According to the Foreign Minister, it might have been
    conditioned by the necessity of specifying Baku's attitudes towards
    certain issues discussed in the frameworks of the "Madrid principles".

    With regard to the information disseminated by the Turkish and
    Azerbaijani media on the prospects of holding the Armenian Azerbaijani
    and Turkish Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsinki, Mr. Nalbandyan
    said, "I haven't received any proposal concerning that meeting, and I
    can't say whether it will take place. As there are different rumors
    according to which the Armenian, Turkish and Azerbaijani Foreign
    Ministers spoke about the settlement of the Karabakh conflict during
    the meeting in New York, I want to repeat that such rumors do not
    correspond to the reality. The meeting lasted only 15 minutes, and
    we discussed the idea of the Caucasian platform. And that was the
    initiative of Turkey and the Turkish Foreign Minister. We accepted
    the proposal, and the meeting took place."

    Therefore, the rumors on Turkey's "mission" as a "mediator" are
    strictly exaggerated. Turkey can assist in the settlement of the
    conflict,by regulating its relations with Armenia and why not, using
    its influence upon Azerbaijan, its sister country. And that's all it
    can do.

    Touching upon the Turkish Ambassador's provocative statement that the
    Armenian-Turkish border will not be opened as long as the Karabakh
    issue is unsettled, the Foreign Minister noted, "I leave that statement
    to his conscience. We are currently conducting the negotiations
    with Turkey over such issues as the establishment of relations,
    the opening of the borders and the regulation of the relationships
    without any preconditions. And that means that no such preconditions
    are possible." The reservations, remarks and recommendations made by
    ex-Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan were touched upon as well. "In
    general, I treat recommendations with great attention. But I don't
    think it's right when the new Foreign Minister makes comments upon
    the expressions of his predecessor or vice versa. And maybe, giving
    the people recommendations through newspapers is not the right thing
    to do. If I start giving my recommendations in response and say what
    should have been done in the course of the past 10 years and what
    shouldn't have, that will be wrong, in my opinion," the Minister said.

    With regard to L. Ter-Petrosyan's predictions on achieving a
    breakthrough in the Karabakh settlement process in a couple of
    months' time, E. Nalbandyan announced, "Such predictions were made
    by different politicians and statesmen in the past as well. There
    is one thing I can say for sure: the conflict will be settled if
    Azerbaijan demonstrates a political will." And that should be done
    not by undertaking specific actions, making statements and carrying
    out activities in different spheres, but on the contrary, by trying
    not to impede in the conflict settlement process.

    Armenia has a serious attitude to the negotiation process; it is in
    favor of a constructive dialogue and is interested in the speedy
    settlement of the conflict; otherwise, in case of responding to
    Azerbaijan's "initiatives" in the same style, it will have to give
    up the idea of the negotiations once and for all. "We find that the
    negotiations are at a very important stage, and the process may
    become active especially after President Medvedev's initiative,"
    the speaker assured.

    And what about the "rumors" that Mr. Medvedev's proposal implies the
    return of 7 liberated regions whereas Minsk Group proposal which is
    currently under discussion envisages the return of 5 or 6 regions. To
    what extent do such rumors correspond to the reality? In response
    to our question, the Foreign Minister said, "Our principle is the
    following: unless we have reached an agreement on all the issues
    under discussion, we won't be able to draw conclusions and specify
    figures such as 7, 5 or 6."

    If the Presidents reach an agreement and arrive at some mutually
    acceptable variant, the package of the proposals will be naturally
    introduced to the public. "One thing is obvious: no one has any
    intention to do anything behind the people's back. Each solution
    should receive relevant support by Armenia and Karabakh. Without that
    support and trust, no solution will be possible."

    As regards the accusations of the "opposition leader" who says that
    Armenia has sharply shifted its foreign policy vector, by turning
    to the West and betraying Russia, the Foreign Minister said,
    "Our relationship with Russia, both as an ally and a strategic
    partner, were once again reiterated during the visit of the Russian
    President. If anyone notices any changes, they may be only directed
    to the extension of the relationship."
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