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YEREVAN DENIES KARABAKH POLICY SHIFT
http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2331706.html
08.03.2011
Russia -- President Dmitry Medvedev (R) meets with his counterparts
from Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian in
Krasnaya Polyana, 05Mar2011
Armenia on Tuesday denied any changes in its policy on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and blamed Azerbaijan for an apparent lack
of progress in their latest peace talks mediated by Russia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's chief foreign policy aide, Novruz
Mammadov, spoke on Monday of a "slight positive change" in Yerevan's
position on the conflict. He said it manifested itself at the weekend
meeting in Sochi between Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
that was hosted by their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
Mammadov claimed Sarkisian seems to have realized that his previous
"non-constructive" stance on the issue is leading nowhere.
Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian dismissed those claims,
saying that Yerevan's position has been in tune with the so-called
Madrid principles of a Karabakh settlement drafted by the United
States, Russia and France.
"We don't need to change our position because as the foreign minister
[Edward Nalbandian] pointed out at the March 3 meeting in Vienna of
the [OSCE] Permanent Council, Armenia has said yes to the Madrid
proposals," he said in a statement issued by the Armenian Foreign
Ministry.
Kocharian claimed that Azerbaijan has yet to accept those principles
and that Aliyev continued to drag his feet at the Sochi talks. Baku's
acceptance of the proposed framework agreement would have marked
significant progress in the negotiating process, he said.
Azerbaijani leaders insist that an updated version of the peace
proposals put forward by the mediating more than a year ago is largely
acceptable to Baku and that it is Yerevan that effectively rejected it.
The conflicting parties also make differing interpretations of the
peace formula favored by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group. Armenian officials say it upholds the
Karabakh Armenians' right to legitimize their de facto secession from
Azerbaijan. But according to the Azerbaijani side, they would only be
able to determine the extent of Karabakh's autonomy within Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2331706.html
08.03.2011
Russia -- President Dmitry Medvedev (R) meets with his counterparts
from Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian in
Krasnaya Polyana, 05Mar2011
Armenia on Tuesday denied any changes in its policy on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and blamed Azerbaijan for an apparent lack
of progress in their latest peace talks mediated by Russia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's chief foreign policy aide, Novruz
Mammadov, spoke on Monday of a "slight positive change" in Yerevan's
position on the conflict. He said it manifested itself at the weekend
meeting in Sochi between Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
that was hosted by their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
Mammadov claimed Sarkisian seems to have realized that his previous
"non-constructive" stance on the issue is leading nowhere.
Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian dismissed those claims,
saying that Yerevan's position has been in tune with the so-called
Madrid principles of a Karabakh settlement drafted by the United
States, Russia and France.
"We don't need to change our position because as the foreign minister
[Edward Nalbandian] pointed out at the March 3 meeting in Vienna of
the [OSCE] Permanent Council, Armenia has said yes to the Madrid
proposals," he said in a statement issued by the Armenian Foreign
Ministry.
Kocharian claimed that Azerbaijan has yet to accept those principles
and that Aliyev continued to drag his feet at the Sochi talks. Baku's
acceptance of the proposed framework agreement would have marked
significant progress in the negotiating process, he said.
Azerbaijani leaders insist that an updated version of the peace
proposals put forward by the mediating more than a year ago is largely
acceptable to Baku and that it is Yerevan that effectively rejected it.
The conflicting parties also make differing interpretations of the
peace formula favored by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group. Armenian officials say it upholds the
Karabakh Armenians' right to legitimize their de facto secession from
Azerbaijan. But according to the Azerbaijani side, they would only be
able to determine the extent of Karabakh's autonomy within Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian