Victor Soghomonyan: it became popular to blame Kocharian for forcing NKR out of talks
The office of Armenia's second President Robert Kocharian issued a statement.
It specifically reads that Nagorno Karabakh's direct participation in the ongoing talks has become one of the most heatedly discussed topics on the political agenda.
"Almost every day, representatives of various parties, experts and journalists offer it for a discussion. Moreover, it became popular to note the "negative role" of Armenia's second President Robert Kocharian, who allegedly forced Karabakh out of the negotiation process. Meanwhile, this is often done by people, who are unaware of the issue. Let us refer to the history (by the way, well-known) and answer the question when and how NKR representatives participated in the negotiation process," the statement says.
Victor Soghomonian, head of the office of Armenia's second President, reminded that on March 24, 1992, during the so-called "additional meeting" of CSCE Council (previous name of the OSCE) in Helsinki, it was decided to organize a peace conference between the parties to Karabakh conflict. "Belarus expressed willingness to organize this conference in its capital, from which the name of Minsk process and OSCE Minsk Group come. The ninth paragraph of this decision reads: "Elected and other representatives of Nagorno Karabakh will be invited to the Conference as interested parties by its Chairman after consultation with the States participating in the Conference." "Elected and other representatives" implied representatives of the newly elected Supreme Council of NKR, on one hand, and, according to the Azerbaijani version, representatives of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh, on the other hand.
"It is known that the Minsk conference has not taken place - it was a period of hostilities, and both the Armenian or Azerbaijani sides, refrained from negotiations due to the situation at the battlefront. Under the circumstances, it was decided to create a workgroup, which would deal with the conference organization. The newly established Minsk Group conducted five meetings between the sides from June to September 1992, in Rome. NKR representatives Robert Kocharian, Hrant Khachatryan and Boris Arushanyan joined the meetings at the third stage. However, Baku failed to recognize NKR as a party to the conflict, labeling NKR delegation as representatives of the Armenian community. To confirm this approach, it persistently included then-Mayor of Shushi Nizami Bakhmanov in Azerbaijani delegation as a representative of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh. The decision of 1996 Lisbon OSCE Summit has just strengthened the serious discrepancies between the conflicting parties with respect to the language of negotiations format, as a result of which the process has been terminated within this format since 1997," the statement reads.
"Basically, a single offer was unsuccessfully discussed during these years, which was brought forth by the Russian side (OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Vladimir Kazimirov), it did not foresee a complex settlement and did not refer to the NKR status determination, but rather aimed to liquidate the conflict's consequences, return the refugees, determine the demarcation lines, etc. Only once (in 1993) during this period, separate negotiations were conducted between NKR's actual leader -Chairman of the State Defense Committee Robert Kocharian, and Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev. However, this meeting was informal and did not foresee continuation of talks in this format. Another meeting with participation of the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and NKR took place in Moscow in 1995, through mediation of Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Kozyrev. However, this format has not continued either."
It specifically reads that Nagorno Karabakh's direct participation in the ongoing talks has become one of the most heatedly discussed topics on the political agenda.
"Almost every day, representatives of various parties, experts and journalists offer it for a discussion. Moreover, it became popular to note the "negative role" of Armenia's second President Robert Kocharian, who allegedly forced Karabakh out of the negotiation process. Meanwhile, this is often done by people, who are unaware of the issue. Let us refer to the history (by the way, well-known) and answer the question when and how NKR representatives participated in the negotiation process," the statement says.
Victor Soghomonian, head of the office of Armenia's second President, reminded that on March 24, 1992, during the so-called "additional meeting" of CSCE Council (previous name of the OSCE) in Helsinki, it was decided to organize a peace conference between the parties to Karabakh conflict. "Belarus expressed willingness to organize this conference in its capital, from which the name of Minsk process and OSCE Minsk Group come. The ninth paragraph of this decision reads: "Elected and other representatives of Nagorno Karabakh will be invited to the Conference as interested parties by its Chairman after consultation with the States participating in the Conference." "Elected and other representatives" implied representatives of the newly elected Supreme Council of NKR, on one hand, and, according to the Azerbaijani version, representatives of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh, on the other hand.
"It is known that the Minsk conference has not taken place - it was a period of hostilities, and both the Armenian or Azerbaijani sides, refrained from negotiations due to the situation at the battlefront. Under the circumstances, it was decided to create a workgroup, which would deal with the conference organization. The newly established Minsk Group conducted five meetings between the sides from June to September 1992, in Rome. NKR representatives Robert Kocharian, Hrant Khachatryan and Boris Arushanyan joined the meetings at the third stage. However, Baku failed to recognize NKR as a party to the conflict, labeling NKR delegation as representatives of the Armenian community. To confirm this approach, it persistently included then-Mayor of Shushi Nizami Bakhmanov in Azerbaijani delegation as a representative of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh. The decision of 1996 Lisbon OSCE Summit has just strengthened the serious discrepancies between the conflicting parties with respect to the language of negotiations format, as a result of which the process has been terminated within this format since 1997," the statement reads.
"Basically, a single offer was unsuccessfully discussed during these years, which was brought forth by the Russian side (OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Vladimir Kazimirov), it did not foresee a complex settlement and did not refer to the NKR status determination, but rather aimed to liquidate the conflict's consequences, return the refugees, determine the demarcation lines, etc. Only once (in 1993) during this period, separate negotiations were conducted between NKR's actual leader -Chairman of the State Defense Committee Robert Kocharian, and Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev. However, this meeting was informal and did not foresee continuation of talks in this format. Another meeting with participation of the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and NKR took place in Moscow in 1995, through mediation of Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Kozyrev. However, this format has not continued either."
