Nobody has a magic wand to resolve Karabakh conflict

Armenia and Ireland have a lot in common. Let's begin with the fact that our countries are not large by territory. Both you and we have complicated relations with neighbors. Ireland has a large Diaspora, like Armenia. Here I must say that Irish people in the United States treat Armenians very well, they cooperate with each other. Particularly, we see the most active cooperation in the west of the USA, in California. But as you may know, there are not a lot of Irish nationalities in the west of the United States. Basically they reside on the eastern coast of America. But they do have ties.

We think that the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict will last as much, as is necessary to bring closer positions of sides. Any form of military actions in trying to solve similar conflicts is unproductive. We have fought very long and it hampered the peace process. The conflict between Ireland and the Great Britain dates back to remote ages. But military operations were the most fierce in 1960ies of the 20th century. And they did not contribute to the peace process at all. We always look at the Nagorno Karabakh conflict from this very point of view. Since the world community is interested in settlement of the conflict, the OSCE Minsk Group has been established for that very purpose, which makes every possible effort. But it is Armenia and Azerbaijan that must come to an agreement. I want to remind that the NK problem is a legacy from USSR. At the same time I don't think that the current situation can last endlessly. It is true that the negotiation process does not depend on terms, one cannot fix terms for that. It is a difficult political way, which I hope, will result in resolution of the situation.

Those two principles really exist. But we are trying to avoid discussions over abstract issues. While settling conflicts it is better to concentrate on people, their rights, economic development. When we insisted on principles, we could not move from the same point. The peace process in Ireland became possible, since the sides agreed to concentrate not only on political issues, but also on pragmatism: issues concerning local self-government, creation of a working structure based not on prejudices, but on common sense. But here is the most important thing: neither of parties demands to refuse the Northern Ireland the right to determine its status. There exist two variants: the Northern Ireland together with Great Britain (which we have today) and unification of both parts of the country. It is early to say what variant we will arrive to.

Greatest Irish writer James Joyce's novel "Ulysses" is translated into Armenian. I have also met with the rector of the Linguistic University after V. Brussov and we've agreed on student exchange. You know, there are Armenians living in Ireland. It's true that they are few and generally they work in universities. We are interested in developing contacts on the university level. In February of 2007, when Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian visited Ireland, we discussed a number of projects, which can be realized. And I was in Armenian in 2004 for the first time, when I presented my credentials to President Robert Kocharian.