ARMENIAN EX FOREIGN MINISTER IS NOT WORRIED FOR MADRID DOCUMENT
ArmInfo
2009-05-04 18:28:00
Even though the Madrid document contains lots of unacceptable points,
I am not worried for the basic issue. For the first time ever,
our key goal has been put to paper: the document clearly says that
Nagorno-Karabakh has right to self-determination and should be allowed
to determine its future on its own, former Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan said during the presentation of a collection
of his speeches in Stepanakert.
Yerevan has consistently made it home to the international community
that the self-determination right of the Nagorno-Karabakh people is
the basis of the Nagorno-Karavakh peace process and by participating
in it Armenia is trying to lead the process towards this end. True,
Azerbaijan has tried to interpret this matter as Armenia’s aggression
but we have managed to put it in the right context. The Madrid document
is the result of these efforts. I am not worried for this document. I
believe that this is a good basis for new achievements.
Oskanyan knows for sure that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is not on the
Armenian-Turkish agenda. The Armenian authorities have never sought to
discuss this problem with the Turks. But the danger is we have got into
a process we are not able to control and the Nagorno-Karabakh problem
is coming into touch with the process of Armenian-Turkish rapprochement
whether we like it or not. The Turks are trying to achieve something in
the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process lest the Azeris might be offended.
Azerbaijan has always followed a dual policy: on the one hand, it has
taken part in a process discussing the principle of self-determination,
on the other, it has tried to push forward the principle of territorial
integrity.
Oskanyan supports the opinion that, simultaneously with participation
in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, especially given Azerbaijan’s
reluctance to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-determination,
the Armenian party should appear with proposals and demands for the
recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic by the international
community.