November 20, 2007 - 15:59 AMT
Armenia responsible for talks unless Baku recognizes Karabakh as party to process
Armenia's participation in the Karabakh talks is not a mistake, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told the Public Television of Armenia

"Armenia is responsible for talks unless Baku recognizes Nagorno Karabakh as a full-fledged party to the process," he said.

"A resulting document on the issue cannot be recognized valid without signature of official Stepanakert. There can't be two opinions. This is a problem between Azerbaijan and Karabakh. Armenia, for its part, undertook a share of responsibility for holding negotiations, since Baku doesn't acknowledge Karabakh's right to participate in them," he said adding that Armenian opposition's accusations of wrong foreign policy are inadmissible.

"If the opposition states that Armenia's participation in the talks is a mistake, I would like to remind that this "mistake" springs from 1996-1997, since during 1996 advisers to the presidents negotiated without Nagorno Karabakh," he said.

"This is not a mistake, as the OSCE MG Co-chairs always visit Stepanakert or meet NKR leadership in Yerevan," the Minister resumed.