Karabakh ready to host PACE rapporteur on disputed reservoir

PanARMENIAN.Net - Karabakh authorities are ready to cooperate with the PACE on a controversial report on the Sarsang reservoir, a spokesperson for Karabakh Foreign Ministry said.

“We got a letter from the PACE Secretariat Director General Mario Martins requesting to facilitate PACE’s Sarsang Reservoir rapporteur Milica Markovic’s visit to Karabakh,” Ani Sargsyan told Tert.am.

“We stressed in our response letter that Karabakh authorities are ready to cooperate with the PACE despite our serious concerns regarding the title of the report and the overall process of its preparation.”

According to Sargsyan, Karabakh strongly opposes any attempt to politicize the issue of Sarsang Reservoir. “We are confident that the status of Nagorno Karabakh, as well as different aspects of the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmanship (which is the only internationally mandated and mutually agreed format) should not be included in the report. The Co-chairs shared the same view in their November 12 statement, suggesting that any attempt to change the format or create parallel mechanisms can disrupt the negotiation process and hinder the settlement progress,” Sargsyan noted.

“We hope that Markovic will accept Karabakh’s willingness to cooperate with all responsibility to prepare a report, based on principles of impartiality and neutrality,” the spokeswoman concluded.