Foreign Minister: No issue connected with Nagorno Karabakh can be solved without Artsakh people’s consent

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. Republic of Armenia Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian gave an interview to “Aravot” daily newspaper. “Armenpress” introduces the interview released by the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.

Mr. Minister, there were incessant statements made that the visit the Russian Foreign Minister paid to Yerevan was connected with making some concessions in the issue of Nagorno Karabakh. Namely, Russian “Kommersant”, citing one of its sources close to the negotiation process, informed that one of the main issues of the visit referred to the aforementioned. Can you clarify whether the settlement of the Nagonro Karabakh conflict was discussed during Lavrov’s visit? If yes, in what context was it discussed?

I prefer to avoid commenting on rumor-like news having no ties to reality. Those who spread such information resemble the well-known proverb: “He didhear the sound of the bell,butdoesn'tknowwhere the clapper hangs.”

During the joint press-conference with the Russian Foreign Minister we referred to the topics and spheres that have been subjects of our discussions, noting also the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. As you know, Russia is one of the Co-chairs of the OSCE MG and we highly appreciate Russia’s and other Co-Chairs’ efforts towards exceptionally peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

We have over tens of meetings with Sergey Lavrov within a year both in bilateral and multilateral formats, which is natural taking into account the allied, strategic relations between our countries. On any of those meetings media can spread information that issues related to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement were discussed and I must note that they would not be too wrong on that. With some exceptions, the issue is always on the agenda of our discussions. That is natural.

However, it is another thing when media start to attribute fabricated elements to those discussions, when they cite their so-called sources close to the negotiations process. I would not take it for granted. It is hard to imagine what source they can refer to taking into account that the negotiations are held at a high level and in a narrow format.

Generally, I’d advise to base on official information when commenting on such subtle issues. The presidents of the countries of the MG Co-Chairs made 5 statements on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement issue. They were presented as an integrated whole, I’d emphasize an integrated whole of principles and elements, on which the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be based. A simple comparison shows that the statement released by media does not correspond to the approaches of the heads of the Co-Chair countries on the conflict settlement. Now, what do you think, which is more trustworthy, the one released on behalf of the presidents of the Co-Chair countries or the rumors spread by media? I think, there cannot be two opinions on this.

I’d also like to add that no issue connected with the Nagorno Karabakh can be solved without the consent of the Artsakh people.

Mr. Minister, in Armenia there are ongoing discussions about the adoption of British MP Walter’s report on Nagorno Karabakh on part of PoliticalAffairsCommittee of theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The report will be discussed during the plenary session. In reality, what can be the impact of the adoption of the report?

I have talked about this on numerous occasions. The position of Armenia fully complies with that of OSCE MG Co-Chairs that other international institutions, organizations must not take any steps which may hinder the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict and which can escalate tension in the region.

Azerbaijan attempts to transfer the discussions of the Nagorno Karabakh issue to other platforms. However, the only format having the mandate of the international community is the format of OSCE MG.

The personality of the report’s author is problematic in terms of impartiality. For years he has been one of the prominent members of the so called “group of Azerbaijan friends” in the British parliament, and the group in question, according to the information released by British media, was extensively financed by Baku. And maybe this is the reason why Walter hurried to introduce the report just 2 days before ending his mission of a PACE member. I leave it up to you to decide what his interest was in the above-mentioned.

I’d also like to remind you that the last statement of the OSCE MG Co-Chairs stating that all the attempts of changing the format of negotiations or creating new mechanisms can harm the negotiation process and hinder progress aimed at its solution. PACE members must take this warning into account.

The same opinion was shared by Russia Foreign Minister during his last visit to Yerevan. He stated that the Co-Chairs are strictly against transferring the issue to other international platforms instead of a consistent, practical and tolerant dialogue.

Mr. Minister, after Walter’s infamous report, PACE prepares yet another one. The latter relates to the Sarsang Reservoir and judging from the title of the report, one can assume that it will be anti-Armenian. It is entitled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”. What will you say about that?

Azerbaijani delegation presented a draft resolution in PACE in 2013 complaining that Azerbaijan was deprived of the possibility of using the water of the Sarsang Reservoir. PACE president refused the resolution at that time. However, for some reasons a decision was made in PACE later to nominate a reporter and study the issue.

Of course, any document on Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be considered impartial and objective if the speaker does not visit there to study the situation on spot.

The question arises how the reporter will make an opinion of a reservoir that he/she has not seen.NKR authorities permanently expressed their readiness to jointly use with Azerbaijan the waters of Sarsang Reservoir. PACE reporter would also have an opportunity to discuss technical aspects of that proposal’s implementation with Nagorno-Karabakh authorities during his visit to Artaskh.

In this regard, it is noteworthy that the reporter has already twice visited Azerbaijan. The authorities of Nagorno Karabakh only three or four days ago received a letter from PACE Secretariat containing a recommendation to receive the reporter.

As to Armenia, Armenian Parliamentary delegation to PACE expressed a readiness to receive the PACE reporter in his letter to PACE Secretariat on August 3.

The report is planned to be presented to PACE Social Affairs Committee. In other words, it was originally intended that this report will not be political in nature, but having a technical direction. Armenian side repeatedly called for the reporter, who is a Bosnia-Herzegovina MP, to stay within the framework of this logic and not to politicize the issue. However, there were distortions in reporter’s hastily prepared projects, which are contrary to the statements by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. Walter report resembles this report.

As the lobbying efforts of Azerbaijan fail in other European institutions, Baku is clutching at straws to cling to his initiatives.

Mr. Minister, President of Azerbaijan used them for regular charges towards Armenia after the latest terror actions…

The head of Azerbaijan does not wrinkle to manipulate the tragedies of victims of terrorist attacks to promote his political interests.

These attempts are also made to cover up the prospects for long-term close ties with the notorious terrorist organizations.

MFA also refereed to Armenian-American intergovernmental commission meeting and to the first Armenian-American Trade and Investment Council meeting mentioning that the week was quite active in terms of Armenian-American friendly partnership.

He talked about the cooperation between Armenia and EU emphasizing that the mentioned sides permanently announced about their readiness in continuing the development of their comprehensive collaboration in all significant sectors.