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ARMENIANS WORRIED BY US DIPLOMAT'S KARABAKH COMMENTS
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #738
June 6 2014
Territories around Karabakh not "occupied", but a consequence of war,
Armenian legislator insists.
By Yekaterina Poghosyan - Caucasus
A speech last month by James Warlick, a United States diplomat who
is part of the international group seeking a solution to the Nagorny
Karabakh conflict, may have been officially welcomed in Yerevan,
but many Armenians detected a shift of position that was not in
their favour.
In Nagorny Karabakh, the local Armenian leadership rejected the
ambassador's comments outright.
Ambassador Warlick is the US member of the OSCE's Minsk Group, which
also includes Russian and French co-chairs and which has for year been
trying to nudge Azerbaijanis and Armenians towards a workable solution
to a conflict that stopped in 1994 and has remained effectively frozen
since then.
In a speech at the Carnegie Centre in Washington on May 7 to mark
the 20th anniversary of the ceasefire, he focused on six principles
for a settlement which have been on the table since 2007, with some
modification since then.
The "Madrid Principles", as they are known, would grant Nagorny
Karabakh an interim status pending a legally-binding referendum,
while restoring to Azerbaijan the adjacent territories that are also
under Armenian control. Refugees and internally displaced persons
would be able to return home, a land corridor between Karabakh and
Armenia would be maintained, and the international community would
provide a peacekeeping force.
"There can be no settlement without respect for Azerbaijan's
sovereignty, and the recognition that its sovereignty over these
[surrounding] territories must be restored," Warlick said. "The time
has come for the sides to commit themselves to peace negotiations,
building on the foundation of work done so far."
Although the return of territories outside Karabakh is a principle
that US officials have expressed before, many Armenian politicians
and analysts saw a tilt in emphasis in favour of Azerbaijan.
Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan chose instead to focus on other
elements of the ambassador's speech, and he criticised Baku for
refusing to grant OSCE monitors access to the "Line of Contact"
that separates Karabakh and Azerbaijan forces around Karabakh.
"Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, has rejected and continues to reject
repeated suggestions from the co-mediating countries to strengthen
ceasefire arrangements, to withdraw snipers from the front line,
and create a mechanism for investigating incidents," Nalbandyan said.
His positive spin on the speech was unusual in Yerevan, as most other
politicians saw nothing to like about it.
Artak Zakaryan, a member of parliament's foreign affairs committee
from the ruling Republican Party, was highly critical of Ambassador
Warlick's comments.
"They are largely unacceptable, particularly the fact that the security
belt around Karabakh is termed the 'occupied territories'," Zakaryan
said in an interview with Russia's Regnum news agency.
"Everyone is very well aware that this is not an occupation, but
the result of the war that Azerbaijan brought to Karabakh. These
territories are a significant factor in providing security not just
for Karabakh, but for the whole region."
In Karabakh, which has declared itself an independent state but is not
recognised as such by any member of the United Nations, the government
rejected the speech, saying the international community needed to
treat Karabakh and Azerbaijan as equal players. In the talks process,
Azerbaijan has refused to deal with Karabakh, talking only to Armenia.
"The Nagorny Karabakh conflict is the only one in the world where
for two decades, the parties to a conflict have themselves managed to
preserve peace and stability. I think that this very important and it
shows, among other things, that Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh can
co-exist as two neighbouring sovereign states," Karabakh president
Bako Sahakyan, said in an interview with News.am. "It is impossible
to achieve a solution to the conflict that will be acceptable to
everyone. This is clear to anyone who can see Baku's destructive
policy. A full talks format has still not been created, but I am sure
this is just a question of time."
One of the points made by Ambassador Warlick was that the Lachin area,
which lies between Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh, could not remain
wholly under Armenian control.
"There should be a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorny Karabakh. It
must be wide enough to provide secure passage, but it cannot encompass
the whole of Lachin district," he said.
When a mission from the OSCE later travelled through Lachin, they
were blocked by a group of protesters.
Masis Mailyan, head of the Public Council on Foreign Policy and
Security in Karabakh, said the co-chairs needed to scrap the Madrid
Principles and start again.
"Armenian diplomats should have long ago rejected any discussion
of a document that not only contains many points that run counter
to Armenian interests, but also has great destructive potential,"
he told IWPR. "It's time to relieve the international mediators of
their false ideas. This would allow them to create new regulatory
mechanisms that reflect current realities."
Stepan Grigoryan of the Analytical Centre on Globalisation and
Regional Cooperation suspects that broader geopolitics are playing
a role in subtle shifts in the Western position on Karabakh. Last
year, Armenia abandoned plans to sign an Association Agreement with
the European Union and announced it wanted to enter the Moscow-led
Customs Union instead.
"In my opinion, this is a consequence of Armenia's desire to join
the Customs Union. It's clear that the United States and EU are
expressing their dissatisfaction with this decision, and they cannot
be pro-Armenia in their comments," he told IWPR.
In response to the discussion his remarks engendered, Ambassador
Warlick used his Twitter page to say, "Thanks for comments, even
critical ones, on my @CarnegieEndow speech. Important to have honest
discussion about how to achieve #NKpeace."
Yekaterina Poghosyan is a report for the Mediamax news agency in
Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenians-worried-us-diplomats-karabakh-comments
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #738
June 6 2014
Territories around Karabakh not "occupied", but a consequence of war,
Armenian legislator insists.
By Yekaterina Poghosyan - Caucasus
A speech last month by James Warlick, a United States diplomat who
is part of the international group seeking a solution to the Nagorny
Karabakh conflict, may have been officially welcomed in Yerevan,
but many Armenians detected a shift of position that was not in
their favour.
In Nagorny Karabakh, the local Armenian leadership rejected the
ambassador's comments outright.
Ambassador Warlick is the US member of the OSCE's Minsk Group, which
also includes Russian and French co-chairs and which has for year been
trying to nudge Azerbaijanis and Armenians towards a workable solution
to a conflict that stopped in 1994 and has remained effectively frozen
since then.
In a speech at the Carnegie Centre in Washington on May 7 to mark
the 20th anniversary of the ceasefire, he focused on six principles
for a settlement which have been on the table since 2007, with some
modification since then.
The "Madrid Principles", as they are known, would grant Nagorny
Karabakh an interim status pending a legally-binding referendum,
while restoring to Azerbaijan the adjacent territories that are also
under Armenian control. Refugees and internally displaced persons
would be able to return home, a land corridor between Karabakh and
Armenia would be maintained, and the international community would
provide a peacekeeping force.
"There can be no settlement without respect for Azerbaijan's
sovereignty, and the recognition that its sovereignty over these
[surrounding] territories must be restored," Warlick said. "The time
has come for the sides to commit themselves to peace negotiations,
building on the foundation of work done so far."
Although the return of territories outside Karabakh is a principle
that US officials have expressed before, many Armenian politicians
and analysts saw a tilt in emphasis in favour of Azerbaijan.
Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan chose instead to focus on other
elements of the ambassador's speech, and he criticised Baku for
refusing to grant OSCE monitors access to the "Line of Contact"
that separates Karabakh and Azerbaijan forces around Karabakh.
"Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, has rejected and continues to reject
repeated suggestions from the co-mediating countries to strengthen
ceasefire arrangements, to withdraw snipers from the front line,
and create a mechanism for investigating incidents," Nalbandyan said.
His positive spin on the speech was unusual in Yerevan, as most other
politicians saw nothing to like about it.
Artak Zakaryan, a member of parliament's foreign affairs committee
from the ruling Republican Party, was highly critical of Ambassador
Warlick's comments.
"They are largely unacceptable, particularly the fact that the security
belt around Karabakh is termed the 'occupied territories'," Zakaryan
said in an interview with Russia's Regnum news agency.
"Everyone is very well aware that this is not an occupation, but
the result of the war that Azerbaijan brought to Karabakh. These
territories are a significant factor in providing security not just
for Karabakh, but for the whole region."
In Karabakh, which has declared itself an independent state but is not
recognised as such by any member of the United Nations, the government
rejected the speech, saying the international community needed to
treat Karabakh and Azerbaijan as equal players. In the talks process,
Azerbaijan has refused to deal with Karabakh, talking only to Armenia.
"The Nagorny Karabakh conflict is the only one in the world where
for two decades, the parties to a conflict have themselves managed to
preserve peace and stability. I think that this very important and it
shows, among other things, that Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh can
co-exist as two neighbouring sovereign states," Karabakh president
Bako Sahakyan, said in an interview with News.am. "It is impossible
to achieve a solution to the conflict that will be acceptable to
everyone. This is clear to anyone who can see Baku's destructive
policy. A full talks format has still not been created, but I am sure
this is just a question of time."
One of the points made by Ambassador Warlick was that the Lachin area,
which lies between Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh, could not remain
wholly under Armenian control.
"There should be a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorny Karabakh. It
must be wide enough to provide secure passage, but it cannot encompass
the whole of Lachin district," he said.
When a mission from the OSCE later travelled through Lachin, they
were blocked by a group of protesters.
Masis Mailyan, head of the Public Council on Foreign Policy and
Security in Karabakh, said the co-chairs needed to scrap the Madrid
Principles and start again.
"Armenian diplomats should have long ago rejected any discussion
of a document that not only contains many points that run counter
to Armenian interests, but also has great destructive potential,"
he told IWPR. "It's time to relieve the international mediators of
their false ideas. This would allow them to create new regulatory
mechanisms that reflect current realities."
Stepan Grigoryan of the Analytical Centre on Globalisation and
Regional Cooperation suspects that broader geopolitics are playing
a role in subtle shifts in the Western position on Karabakh. Last
year, Armenia abandoned plans to sign an Association Agreement with
the European Union and announced it wanted to enter the Moscow-led
Customs Union instead.
"In my opinion, this is a consequence of Armenia's desire to join
the Customs Union. It's clear that the United States and EU are
expressing their dissatisfaction with this decision, and they cannot
be pro-Armenia in their comments," he told IWPR.
In response to the discussion his remarks engendered, Ambassador
Warlick used his Twitter page to say, "Thanks for comments, even
critical ones, on my @CarnegieEndow speech. Important to have honest
discussion about how to achieve #NKpeace."
Yekaterina Poghosyan is a report for the Mediamax news agency in
Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenians-worried-us-diplomats-karabakh-comments