Victor Soghomonyan lays the blame on “minor” people
Victor Soghomonyan, Head of Robert Kocahrian's office, today published a three-page statement presenting the second President's stance on the Karabakh conflict resolution.
"The second President's name is largely circulated these days. Robert Kocahrian is reported to have forced official Stepanakert off the negotiations. Some minor people who have no notion of Karabakh stand behind the statements," said Mr. Soghomonyan.
The rumours activated after OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on the Nagorno-Karabakh Goran Lenmarker's visit to Yerevan. OSCE Minsk Group French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier and Armenia's first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan also announces about Kocahrian's negative influence on the talks [but they are in no way classified into the category of "minor" people who are unaware of the Karabakh issue].
Anyway, Victor Soghomonyan ended his three-page report with the affirmation that Robert Kocharian had no connection with Karabakh's withdrawal from the talks.
The decisions adopted in the OSCE Lisbon Summit, 2-3 December 1996, further deepened the divergences between the conflicting sides over the negotiation formats leading to the final termination of the talks in 1997.
"Thus, Karabakh withdrew from the talks before Robert Kocharian was elected Armenia's President," said the Head of Robert Kocahrian's office.
"This is an absolute lie and I am not going to comment on it," said David Shahnazaryan, special representative of Armenia's first President.
Armenia's ex Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanian gave a similar answer.
"They are lying. The three-party format of the talks preserved from 1992 to 1997. Moreover, a three-lateral negotiation was held in Helsinki in April, 1997,' he said.
