Armenia will not overlook Karabakh’s opinion
RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan paid a visit to Stepanakert a day before the Sargsyan-Aliev meeting to be held in Moscow and was received by President of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan.
President Sahakyan and Minister Nalbandyan discussed issues related to the talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.
After the meeting, the Minister returned to Yerevan and held a press conference, answering the following questions.
-Presidents Medvedev, Sarkozy and Obama made a statement during the G8 summit in Italy on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. How would you interpret that statement?
Edward Nalbandyan: We appreciate the desire of the U.S., Russian and French Presidents and their consisent efforts in supporting the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to bring the positions closer and move ahead to the resolution of the conflict.
As for certain details regarding the Madrid principles shown on the official webpages of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, they are proposals for the negotiations. Some are being discussed and some are not.
I would like to draw attention to the fact that there are three principles that Armenia has declared several times as the basic principles for the conflict resolution. First, Karabakh's legal status must be determined by the expression of will of the people of Karabakh and it must have legal power. Secondly, Karabakh must have a land connection with Armenia and third, there must be international guarantees for security.
I must recall that if Azerbaijan still continues to talk only about territorial integrity, while Armenia has been talking about all three principles of self-determination of nations, territorial integrity and no application of forces, the details that have been published confirm what Armenia has been saying all along.
-Mr. Minister, the principles shown on the OSCE's official webpage include the proposition on the return of the deported and the refugees. What does that presuppose?
Edward Nalbandyan: I have already said and can say once again that there has never been a discussion on that. We can get to that only after the conflict resolution, taking into account the issue of 400,000 Armenian refugees.
-In his last interview, the NKR President mentioned that Artsakh is not pleased with the current format of negotiations and there is an impression that the NKR authorities have other approaches for the conflict resolution. What would you say about that?
Edward Nalbandyan: Armenia considers Karabakh's complete participation in the talks as a necessity and the guarantee for an effective, peaceful resolution.
It is obvious that Karabakh may have different approaches in certain issues, but I would like to emphasize that Armenia attaches great importance to the opinion of the people of Karabakh. Not only can Armenia not overlook it, but it can't come to terms on any issue without the consent of the Karabakh people and administration and proof of that is my visit to Karabakh today.
