Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Armenian Paper Expects Strasbourg Talks To Be "Difficult"

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Armenian Paper Expects Strasbourg Talks To Be "Difficult"

    ARMENIAN PAPER EXPECTS STRASBOURG TALKS TO BE "DIFFICULT"

    Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
    13 May 06

    Excerpt from report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak on 13 May
    headlined "They are taking Kocharyan to Camp David" by Anna Akopyan

    Three months of efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to revive
    the Karabakh settlement process that died in Rambouillet have finally
    produced results. In a few days time talks will resume in Strasbourg.

    The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers are going to meet
    there. There is every reason to believe that the talks in Strasbourg
    will be difficult. After the three-month-long lull, Azerbaijan will
    undoubtedly come forward with an unprecedentedly harsh position.

    There have been serious changes in world politics since the
    Rambouillet talks over three months ago. And the changes are not in
    favour of Armenia. First of all we are naturally talking about the
    new US attitude to Azerbaijan. After a meeting between George Bush
    and Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan's position on the Karabakh conflict
    settlement became stronger.

    [Passage omitted: reported reax to Aliyev's visit to Washington and
    Azerbaijan's membership of the UN Human Rights Protection Council;
    Karabakh may also be discussed at the summit in St Petersburg in June]

    Incidentally Azerbaijan hopes that the Camp David scenario of 1978 will
    be used for a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan
    and Armenia over the Karabakh.

    [Passage omitted: US President Jimmy Carter made the president of
    Egypt, and the prime minister of Israel, sign a peace agreement at
    Camp David].

    According to analysts, unlike before the USA and Europe will now
    push for a quick settlement of the Karabakh conflict because of
    new developments in the region, including over Iran. All of this is
    happening against the background of energy problems.

    [Passage omitted: more on Camp David]

    The Azerbaijani side wants the USA to put pressure on Armenia so
    that the latter signs the document on the negotiating table. Under
    the document, the status of Karabakh will not be specified and
    Armenia will be forced to leave five to seven occupied territories
    of Azerbaijan. In view of such developments we cannot rule out that
    Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan may fall sick or President
    Robert Kocharyan may hurt his leg.

    But to avoid the signing of the document on the Karabakh settlement
    Robert Kocharyan might use not just the above mentioned options but
    other arguments. Under the circumstances, if the USA decides to go for
    the Camp David scenario, the NKR independence will be all but memory.
Working...
X