Lragir, Armenia
Jan 17 2008
KARABAKH’S PARTICIPATION IS ARMENIA’S BUSINESS
The agreement of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh is needed for any
decision concerning the fate of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,
stated the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on January 17 in Yerevan. This
time they went to Stepanakert, the U.S. co-chair Matthew Bryza said
to get acquainted with the people and government of Artsakh. The
French co-chair Bernard Fassier says they once again told the NKR
government the sooner Karabakh returns to the table of negotiations
as a party in the talks the better. The co-chairs do not think they
are responsible for this return and advise to ask relevant questions
to the government of Armenia. Fassier reminds that Karabakh had been
participating in the talks before Robert Kocharyan became president
in 1998, but when he became president, a decision was made that
Armenia will represent Karabakh better. So says Fassier, noting that
it is up to the Armenian government to decide to represent Karabakh
or not.
In that case the reporters asked if Robert Kocharyan leaves office
which will happen a short period later how the new president of
Armenia will be perceived, whether he will continue to represent
Karabakh or not. Bernard Fassier asks to ask this question to the
Armenian government because he says it is up to them to decide. At
the same time, however, the French co-chair of the Minsk Group says
the situation with the participation of Karabakh is much more
complicated, and a number of other issues should be solved to solve
that one. The co-chair perhaps hints at the agreement of Azerbaijan.
The Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov also says this, saying that the
co-chairs are not thinking about how to persuade Azerbaijan to accept
the format when Armenia and Karabakh decide that each represents
itself. Merzlyakov says they are not making far-fetched plans, and
solve the problems along their emergence. Besides, the Russian
co-chair also stated that judging by the stance of Karabakh, the
current stage of the talks, they can say there is no sheer necessity
for a change of the format.