OFFERS DO NOT PROCEED FROM THE INTERESTS OF KARABAKH

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The non-governmental organizations of Nagorno Karabakh Republic have sent an open letter to the RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Yuriy Merzlyakov, Steven Mann, and Bernard Fassier, and the International Crisis Group head Alain Deletroz.

The letter voices the indignation of the Karabakh society about the two reports of the International Crisis Group about the Karabakh conflict. The necessity of expressing their complaint of the reports is accounted for by the tendency to use the provisions of the ICG reports in the process of discussing the conflict.

«As every decision made on the basis of the offers of the intercessors must be realized by Karabakh, we find it necessary that the offers should proceed from the interests and aims of Karabakh», the letter says. However, the impression is that the authors of the ICG offers thought of everything except the vital interests of Karabakh.

First, the non-participation of the Karabakh side in the negotiations is considered extremely improper. «We notice a tendency to transfer the Karabakh-Azeri conflict from that of two countries into that of two communities of a country. In fact the Karabakh conflict is the struggle of the Armenians of Karabakh against the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to live safely in their own country and to preserve their ethnic independence», the letter says.

The representatives of the NGOs state that the offers made by the ICS reports do not answer the main question of the residents of Karabakh, «Will we be able to live safely in our own country? ».

The open letter says that the armistice is preserved in the Karabakh-Azeri conflict zone thanks solely to the kind will of the sides, which can be enhanced only by a peaceful agreement.

«We want to remind you once more why we started the struggle: we want to live in a free, independent, democratic and civilized country, we want to decide our future ourselves, we do not want war, we are ready to discuss all the issues around the negotiation table, and we want to remain Armenian», the letter says.

The NGOs have asked the intercessors not to force Karabakh into co-existence with Azerbaijan as in these conditions it is fraught with serious consequences, especially in the South Caucasian region. «Our concern comes from the anti-Armenian hysteria which does not stop even after the complaints of the international organizations», the letter says.