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ARMENIAN SOCIETY READY FOR CONCESSIONS?

Politics

“It turns out that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was not settled in 2001 because the Azeri society wasn’t ready for a settlement,” told “A1+” today RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan as he prepares for his meetings on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement in Moscow.

Is Armenian society ready for the conflict settlement, particularly the return of liberated lands that the authorities keep declaring? Nalbandyan told “A1+” the following:

“Unlike the Azeri, our society is more than ready for a settlement. There is no hate towards the other side; we don’t have 80% distrust in the OSCE Minsk Group or 30% ready to solve the conflict through war.”

As far as the return of lands is concerned, Nalbandyan dodged that and noted that the conflict must be settled through concessions but failed to say what Armenia will receive from Azerbaijan.

Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan will hold their first meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the three presidents will meet in Moscow on November 2. The Russian, Armenian and Azeri Foreign Ministers will also meet with the OSCE Minsk Group co-presidents on November 1 in Moscow.

“Armenia welcomes and stresses the importance of Russian President Medvedev’s initiative to fuel the negotiations process and we hope that that will pave a new path towards the settlement,” told journalists today RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan.

After his trip to Moscow, Serzh Sargsyan will leave for Paris to meet with President Nikolay Sarkozy and other high-ranking officials. Then, Sargsyan will leave for Brussels. Does this confirm the rumors that the authorities are getting ready to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict soon? Edward Nalbandyan underlined once again that the negotiations are led based on the Madrid principles in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. Journalists tried to find out Edward Nalbandyan’s stance on the disagreements between the statements made by the Armenian and Karabakh authorities.

“Any settlement reached by both conflicting parties will have to be approved not only by the people of Armenia, but also the people of Karabakh. The settlement must be backed by the people of Armenia and Karabakh. No conflict will be solved without their support and trust,” said Nalbandyan.

Which countries does Armenia see suitable in the case of allocation of peacekeeping forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone? In response Nalbandyan said that there is still time to discuss the issue and it will be discussed if the negotiations lead up to the security issue. According to Nalbandyan, there have to be a couple of countries involved in the issue relating to allocation of peacekeeping forces.