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PARTY LEADER: TWO ARMENIAN STATES PUT TO FIRMNESS TEST
ARKA
March 13, 2008
YEREVAN, March 13. /ARKA/. Today two Armenian states - Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh - are put to the firmness test, the leader of the
National Democratic Party of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharian said.
The ability of the two states to resist internal pressure is on
trial today, he said at the seminar of Kosovo precedent and whether
it is applicable to Karabakh. He considered it a blunder to think
that European countries and the USA adhere to an anti-Armenian or
anti-Azerbaijani position.
According to him, the Karabakh problem is to be resolved either
through a compromise or at the expense of the "weak" side. "Now a
test is under way to check whether it is the Armenian side who is the
weak party at the expense of which the problem could be resolved,"
Shavarsh Kocharian said.
He considered the recent attack of Azerbaijan against Karabakh
positions and the propaganda in favor of possibility of military
operations against Nagorno-Karabakh as tests.
"The publications of Azerbaijani and Turkish press about bases of
the Labor Party of Kurdistan allegedly allocated in Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR) are the preliminary stage of the possible aggression,"
he said.
According to Kocharian, the most dangerous is the statement of OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which, in fact, acknowledges the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan.
"When the violation of the cease-fire regime occurred they stated
that the NKR issue cannot be solved through use of force, but they
also made a statement on recognizing the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan. This is repudiation of the Prague process where the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but without NKR, was a basic
principle," Kocharian said. In this case the situation will turn to be
favorable to Azerbaijan and extremely unfavorable to Armenia, he added.
"So, now we are passing a test how we will get out of the situation,
will we be able to prove we are not that easy to bewilder and force
make concessions. We could make a number of steps advantageous
for us in the process of recognition of Kosovo's independence,
but now we should prevent even greater worsening of the situation,"
Kocharian said.
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when Nagorno-Karabakh
with prevailingly Armenian population declared its withdrawal from
Azerbaijan.
On December 10 1991, just a couple of days before the official collapse
of the Soviet Union, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh in the
presence of international observers where 99.89% of the population
voted for the full independence from Azerbaijan.
In response to it, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale war against
Nagorno-Karabakh. Active operations were ceased on May 12 1994 by
signing a cease-fire agreement that is maintained since then. Total
of 25-30,000 people were killed and about one million had to leave
their homes on both sides as a result of the operations.
Since 1992 negotiations have been held on peaceful settlement of the
conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by
the USA, Russia and France.
ARKA
March 13, 2008
YEREVAN, March 13. /ARKA/. Today two Armenian states - Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh - are put to the firmness test, the leader of the
National Democratic Party of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharian said.
The ability of the two states to resist internal pressure is on
trial today, he said at the seminar of Kosovo precedent and whether
it is applicable to Karabakh. He considered it a blunder to think
that European countries and the USA adhere to an anti-Armenian or
anti-Azerbaijani position.
According to him, the Karabakh problem is to be resolved either
through a compromise or at the expense of the "weak" side. "Now a
test is under way to check whether it is the Armenian side who is the
weak party at the expense of which the problem could be resolved,"
Shavarsh Kocharian said.
He considered the recent attack of Azerbaijan against Karabakh
positions and the propaganda in favor of possibility of military
operations against Nagorno-Karabakh as tests.
"The publications of Azerbaijani and Turkish press about bases of
the Labor Party of Kurdistan allegedly allocated in Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR) are the preliminary stage of the possible aggression,"
he said.
According to Kocharian, the most dangerous is the statement of OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which, in fact, acknowledges the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan.
"When the violation of the cease-fire regime occurred they stated
that the NKR issue cannot be solved through use of force, but they
also made a statement on recognizing the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan. This is repudiation of the Prague process where the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but without NKR, was a basic
principle," Kocharian said. In this case the situation will turn to be
favorable to Azerbaijan and extremely unfavorable to Armenia, he added.
"So, now we are passing a test how we will get out of the situation,
will we be able to prove we are not that easy to bewilder and force
make concessions. We could make a number of steps advantageous
for us in the process of recognition of Kosovo's independence,
but now we should prevent even greater worsening of the situation,"
Kocharian said.
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when Nagorno-Karabakh
with prevailingly Armenian population declared its withdrawal from
Azerbaijan.
On December 10 1991, just a couple of days before the official collapse
of the Soviet Union, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh in the
presence of international observers where 99.89% of the population
voted for the full independence from Azerbaijan.
In response to it, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale war against
Nagorno-Karabakh. Active operations were ceased on May 12 1994 by
signing a cease-fire agreement that is maintained since then. Total
of 25-30,000 people were killed and about one million had to leave
their homes on both sides as a result of the operations.
Since 1992 negotiations have been held on peaceful settlement of the
conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by
the USA, Russia and France.