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POLISH ENVOY BACKS KARABAKH ROLE IN MINSK GROUP PEACE TALKS
Asbarez
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)-Representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh should be a party to
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace negotiations, Poland's ambassador to
Armenia indicated on Monday.
Zdzislaw Raczynski also insisted that a recent resolution by the
European Parliament, criticized by Armenia, does not mean that the
European Union is seeking direct involvement in the negotiating
process that has long been mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.
"No organization except the OSCE, not even the EU and the UN, is
involved in Karabakh negotiations," Raczynski told a news conference.
The president of the EU's executive European Commission, Jose Manuel
Barroso, likewise said after talks with Armenia's visiting President
Serzh Sarkisian last week that the bloc hopes to "see some progress
soon through the ongoing negotiations of the OSCE Minsk Group."
"I have informed President Sarkisian that the EU is ready to step
up its efforts in support of the resolution of the conflict notably
through the EU-funded program of confidence building measures such
as people-to-people contacts," Barroso told journalists in Brussels.
In a non-binding resolution on the South Caucasus adopted on May
20, the European Parliament demanded Armenia's withdrawal from the
liberated territories of Nagorno-Karabakh. The resolution did not
specify whether that should be done immediately and unconditionally
or after the signing of a comprehensive Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement.
Armenia's government and leading political forces rejected this
demand, saying that it contradicts the Minsk Group's existing plan to
resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh endorsed by the EU. The so-called Madrid
Document calls for the liberation of virtually all Armenian-controlled
territories around Karabakh in return for a future referendum on
self-determination within the disputed territory itself.
Raczynski declined to comment on official Yerevan's claims that the
resolution clause is at odds with EU governments' position on the
Karabakh conflict resolution. "Formulations in that resolution are
very general and it is the two, or rather three, parties that should
negotiate over details," he said.
The envoy clarified that those parties are Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Karabakh. He also said Poland has a "neutral" stance on the conflict
and shares the Minsk Group mediators' view that a Karabakh settlement
should be based on the principles of both territorial integrity and
peoples' self-determination.
Despite regular visits to Stepanakert by the group's American, French
and Russian co-chairs, Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic Armenian leadership
has not been directly involved in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks for
over a decade. Azerbaijan refuses any direct contacts with the Karabakh
Armenians, saying that the disputed territory is controlled by Armenia.
The mediators have repeatedly assured the authorities in Yerevan and
Stepanakert that the Karabakh Armenians will play a major role at a
later stage in the peace process.
From: A. Papazian
Asbarez
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)-Representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh should be a party to
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace negotiations, Poland's ambassador to
Armenia indicated on Monday.
Zdzislaw Raczynski also insisted that a recent resolution by the
European Parliament, criticized by Armenia, does not mean that the
European Union is seeking direct involvement in the negotiating
process that has long been mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.
"No organization except the OSCE, not even the EU and the UN, is
involved in Karabakh negotiations," Raczynski told a news conference.
The president of the EU's executive European Commission, Jose Manuel
Barroso, likewise said after talks with Armenia's visiting President
Serzh Sarkisian last week that the bloc hopes to "see some progress
soon through the ongoing negotiations of the OSCE Minsk Group."
"I have informed President Sarkisian that the EU is ready to step
up its efforts in support of the resolution of the conflict notably
through the EU-funded program of confidence building measures such
as people-to-people contacts," Barroso told journalists in Brussels.
In a non-binding resolution on the South Caucasus adopted on May
20, the European Parliament demanded Armenia's withdrawal from the
liberated territories of Nagorno-Karabakh. The resolution did not
specify whether that should be done immediately and unconditionally
or after the signing of a comprehensive Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement.
Armenia's government and leading political forces rejected this
demand, saying that it contradicts the Minsk Group's existing plan to
resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh endorsed by the EU. The so-called Madrid
Document calls for the liberation of virtually all Armenian-controlled
territories around Karabakh in return for a future referendum on
self-determination within the disputed territory itself.
Raczynski declined to comment on official Yerevan's claims that the
resolution clause is at odds with EU governments' position on the
Karabakh conflict resolution. "Formulations in that resolution are
very general and it is the two, or rather three, parties that should
negotiate over details," he said.
The envoy clarified that those parties are Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Karabakh. He also said Poland has a "neutral" stance on the conflict
and shares the Minsk Group mediators' view that a Karabakh settlement
should be based on the principles of both territorial integrity and
peoples' self-determination.
Despite regular visits to Stepanakert by the group's American, French
and Russian co-chairs, Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic Armenian leadership
has not been directly involved in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks for
over a decade. Azerbaijan refuses any direct contacts with the Karabakh
Armenians, saying that the disputed territory is controlled by Armenia.
The mediators have repeatedly assured the authorities in Yerevan and
Stepanakert that the Karabakh Armenians will play a major role at a
later stage in the peace process.
From: A. Papazian