“Irrelative of the talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, judging by my contacts with international experts, I can say that over the past years they were inclined for recognition of independence of NKR or unification of NKR and Armenia. Most experts in our region rule out return of the status quo of 1988,” former NKR Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan said.
“Those who track the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement are no more surprised to hear mutually exclusive statements from diplomats after similar meetings. With regard to this particular case, ostensibly a referendum or a plebiscite on the status of Karabakh is concerned. In this case, I think the parties are telling the truth but not the whole truth. In other words, they give information that favors them,” he noted. “As to whether the Armenian government agreed on all the other issues, as far as I know, the principle of the consultations is ‘we agree on nothing unless we agree on everything’. Even if we assume that there is agreement on several issues, all that has been agreed on earlier will be conventional until a final agreement is reached.”
If independence of Kosovo is nevertheless recognized, it would be remarkable that the province gained independence not owing to but despite the will of the former metropolis, according to him.
“We are going to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the new stage of the Karabakh Movement soon. Over these years more than twenty new states have appeared on the political map of the world. Unlike Kosovo, however, these countries gained independence thanks to the agreement of the central government (Ethiopia – Eritrea, Indonesia – East Timor, and others),” he said.
“Since Azerbaijan is not ready either to recognize independence of NKR or to hold a dialogue, the Kosovo precedent may be useful for the diplomacy of both Armenian states,” he resumed, Karabakh Open reports.
