Yerevan objects to Turkey’s role in Karabakh settlement

Yerevan objects to Turkey’s role in Karabakh settlement

11 Oct 04

Yerevan. (Interfax-AVN) – Armenia objects to Turkey’s participation
in the current phase of the Karabakh settlement, Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian told a Monday press conference.

“We rule out Turkish participation in the current phase,” he said.

Oskanian said Ankara might play a positive role in later phases of
the Karabakh settlement.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev have not made a decision on preliminary agreements on a Karabakh
settlement, which the foreign ministers reached over recent months,
he said.

“It seems the presidents need another meeting and discussion of the
proposals,” he said. The two leaders will also determine the further
course of negotiations, he said.

Oskanian said he reached preliminary agreements with his Azerbaijani
counterpart that might serve as the core of a Karabakh settlement.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents are considering the
proposals. If they are approved, negotiations on a Karabakh settlement
will enter their second phase, he said.

Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh in a bloody conflict with
Armenia in the 1990s.