The Karabakh issue cannot be settled without the participation of Stepanakert in the negotiation process, NKR President Arkady Ghukasian told journalists upon completion of the meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. At a certain stage of the negotiation process Karabakh’s participation will become necessary, he said. “The OSCE MG mediators agree with it, since Nagorno Karabakh has much more issues to settle with Azerbaijan than Armenia does,” Ghukasian noted. When commenting on the possibility of conducting a referendum for determination of the status of Nagorno Karabakh Ghukasian said the idea of referendum is admissible. “If Azerbaijan and the international community admit the returns I think there is sense to hold the referendum. This issue is included in the negotiation agenda, however the positions of the conflicting parties differ fundamentally. We proceed from the fact that a referendum was once conducted in Karabakh and now the mater concerns an extra referendum. At that the details and its geography should be determined. The most important issue today is to exclude the possibility of hostilities and sign a peaceful agreement,” Ghukasian stated.
To note, in a conversation with journalists OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-Chair Yuri Merzlyakov stated that the mediators are going to share “verbal proposals and considerations” on the Karabakh conflict settlement with the Armenian President, reported IA Regnum.
