BAKU: Armenian FM: No need to pour oil on fire

Trend, Azerbaijan
Feb 11 2011

Armenian FM: No need to pour oil on fire

One should try not to pour oil on the fire before making evaluations
and predictions, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said at a
press conference. He was commenting on a report by the International
Crisis Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia Today reported.

Nalbandian said the report’s authors present the document as an expert
opinion, and different experts may have different opinions on the same
subject. Meanwhile, he stressed that these opinions do not always
coincide with the real situation.

“Before giving any advice, assessment or predictions, one should try
not to add fuel to the fire. Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
above all, one must take into account the expert opinion of the OSCE
Minsk Group, which is familiar not only with the evolution of the
negotiation process, but also with the present state of affairs,”
Nalbandian said.

He stressed that, even from the point of expertise evaluations and
projections, above all, the opinion of the OSCE Minsk Group should be
listened to.

Another report by the International Crisis Group on the
Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, “Azerbaijan and Armenia: To Prevent War,”
was published on the organization’s website on Feb. 8.

“The focus of the report is to explain what has deteriorated the
situation on the contact line in the past year,” Europe Program
Director of International Crisis Group Sabine Freizer told Trend
earlier.

The report is based on the group’s research in Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The group has been working on this report for four months.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

From: A. Papazian