VARTAN OSKANIAN: “KARABAGH IS INVALUABLE”
Azg/am
23 Sept 04
One Can’t Frighten Armenia with Statements That It Is Left Without
Energetic and Transportation Projects
“Nagorno Karabagh is invaluable. If someone connects the regional
energetic and transportation projects with the issue of Nagorno
Karabagh, I can definitely say that we can make no connection between
them, as Nagorno Karabagh is invaluable and we can exchange it neither
with railways nor oil pipelines and roads,” Oskanian said in
yesterday’s press conference.
“One can’t frighten or bother Armenia with statements that it is left
without the energetic and transportation regional projects, and we
should make concessions and prompt the settlement of the issue. We
absolutely reject this argument and one can’t frighten Armenia with
that. Maybe that was possible in 1992. At present Armenia can not
only survive without that, but also develop and during the next
century it will develop without railways and oil pipelines,” Oskanian
said.
According to the calculation of the experts, Armenia would get $50
million annually, if all the oil and gas pipelines, as well as the
railroads pass through its territory. This sum makes only 10 % of our
country’s budget.
Oskanian said that Armenia is ready to be involved in the regional
programs, if “the other side wishes.” Particularly, he said, that
Yerevan is ready to open Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railroad that stopped
functioning because of Turkey’s blockade of Armenia since
1993. According to trustworthy diplomatic sourcesof Azg Daily, the
Armenian side offered Turkey to open this railroad, besides, Yerevan
would demand no transportation taxes.
Ra Foreign Minister is to leave for New York to participate in 59-th
Session of UN Assembly. According to preliminary agreement, the
meeting of Oskanian with Abdullah Gul is envisaged. Oskanian said that
Armenia hasn’t changed its position, as regards achieving positive
results without preconditions. “The issue remains unchanged, i.e. to
fix development in Armenian -Turkish Relations, to open the railroad,
to establish some bilateral exchanges, to open the border-gate and to
establish diplomatic relations, as the final goal,” he said.
Oskanian stated that at present no agreement has been reached yet for
the meeting with Abdullah Gul. “I think there will be some break
before gettingnew instructions from the presidents. Our evaluation is
the following: the foreign ministers have completed the first stage of
the negotiations, four meetings took place. We are expecting new
instructions from the presidents. If we get the instructions, we can
say that the negotiations on the level of foreign ministers will enter
the second stage, that will be higher and closer to the settlement of
the issue from its qualitative aspect than the first one,” Vartan
Oskanian said.
Presidents Robert Kocharian and Heydar Aliyev have reached a definite
stage in the negotiation process. In reply to the question whether
Azerbaijan preserves the consistency of the negotiations, Oskanian
said: “The possibility of consistency isn’t denied. I can’t say that
consistency is preserved. Anyway, some variant of consistency is being
discussed and it isn’t rejected by Azerbaijan.”
In response to the question put by Azg Daily, whether a negotiation
basis was created as a result of the four meetings of the foreign
ministers, Oskanian answered, “According to the foreign ministers,
some basis was created and passed to the presidents. There were some
expectations that the presidents will give consent or give special
instructions to the foreign ministers to continue in that
direction. There was such an expectation, but that wasn’t achieved
during the meetings of the presidents (in Astana). Certainly, it
doesnâ=80=99t mean that the presidents rejected that. Kocharian and
Aliyev positively estimated the work done by the foreign ministers and
I believe that the things that were submitted to the presidents are in
the center of their attention and they will continue discussions
around them. After coming to conclusion, there may be definite
instructions given to both OSCE Minsk group and the foreign
ministers.”
Touching upon the fact that Armenian officers were not allowed going
to Baku to participate in NATO military exercises, Vartan Oskanian
said, “It was a good opportunity to restore trust between the two
armies. If Azeri government yielded and was under the pressure of some
minority’s demands, we are seriously concerned with the fact whether
new Azeri authorities will be able to make serious mutual concessions
in Nagorno Karabagh settlement issue.”
Oskanian evaluated unacceptable the report of Terry Davis, OSCE
Karabagh Issue Reporter. “That report has no legal status at
present. It is still being discussed. The reporter has been
changed. The newly appointed reporter should prepare his own report,
taking into account the report of Davis or ignoringit,” he
said. Oskanian is also concerned with the statements of the newly
appointed reporter, Stinckson. They are not in the interest of
Armenia.
By Tatoul Hakobian