Stepanakert Will Join Talks on Karabakh Conflict Settlement

“First, let me say that we are thoroughly familiar with the comments of NKR President, Mr. Ghukasian, and we believe that the headlines in the Armenian press are not such accurate reflections of the essence of his comments in regard to the imperative of Armenia’s coming out of the negotiations,” Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian when commenting on the statement by Arkady Ghukasian, who said that there is only one way for Nagorno Karabakh to join the negotiation process, and that is for Armenia to decline to participate. “There was a time when Armenia’s position was the following: Whatever Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan agreed to would be acceptable to Armenia. However, in those days we received proposals which were completely unacceptable to the Armenian side. From the time when the Republic of Armenia became more actively involved in the negotiations, the kinds of proposals which have been tabled are based on principles which can indeed be discussed. So, it’s obvious that other countries approach recognized states one way, and unrecognized states another way. There is an understanding among all, including the Azerbaijanis, that once agreement has been reached on the basic principles and the work has begun on the details of the agreement, Nagorno Karabakh will join the talks,” Vartan Oskanian said.