Sergey Minasyan: Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan, has always been ready to
accept Madrid Principles as initial variant
11:47 11/12/2012 » Interviews
On the whole, the statement issued by the Heads of Delegation of the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries on the sidelines of the OSCE
Ministerial Council meeting in Dublin and the accentuations in the
speech of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian have common
points, political scientist, deputy director of Caucasus Institute
Sergey Minasyan told Panorama.am in an interview.
According to him, the importance of Madrid Principles as a basis for
further negotiations has always been highlighted in statements. At
least during the last decade, Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan, has always
been ready to accept Madrid Principles as an initial variant.
`The approaches of the Armenian Foreign Minister and the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs also coincide in unacceptability of use of force and
threat of force. Military resolution of the conflict is unacceptable
both for Armenia and the Co-Chairs. This similarity in the approaches
of the Armenian side and the OSCE is more than obvious,’ Minasyan
stressed.
Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of
State of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Minister
Delegate for European Affairs of France Bernard Cazeneuve issued a
statement on December 6, which said, in part, “We regret that the
expectations of more rapid progress in the peace process, which were
raised by the Joint Statement of the Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan, with the President of the Russian Federation at Sochi on
January 23, 2012, were not met. Instead, the parties have too often
sought one-sided advantage in the negotiation process, rather than
seeking to find agreement, based upon mutual understanding. While
recognizing the decrease in serious incidents along the Line of
Contact and the border in recent months, we remind the parties of the
need to continue to respect the ceasefire of 1994, and that the use of
military force will not resolve the conflict. We urge the parties to
refrain from actions and statements that foster feelings of enmity
among their populations and have raised tensions in recent months. The
leaders of the sides must prepare their populations for the day when
they will live again as neighbors, not enemies, with full respect for
each other’s culture, history, and traditions.
“We call upon the parties to demonstrate a greater sense of urgency in
the peace process and to work with the Co-Chairs to give full and
careful consideration to ideas presented by the Co-Chairs during their
trip to the region in November. We welcome the readiness of the
Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to meet jointly with the
Co-Chairs early in 2013 to continue these discussions. Our countries
continue to stand ready to do whatever we can to assist the parties,
but the responsibility for putting an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict remains with them.”
From: A. Papazian