Today Edward Nalbandian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, presented in detail during a press conference what achievements they had had in the foreign relations in year 2011, mentioning from a new impetus given to the partnership with China, Japan and India to the statement made on March 5 in Sochi, the friendly relations with the US etc.
In response to a question “would you, please, point out one mistake or failure that has taken place in our foreign policy in 2011”, the minister said, “Certainly, if we reached the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it would be a serious achievement, given steps have been taken in that direction and the approach of the international community is in line with Armenia’s approach, it is certainly a positive and important fact, but certainly, the peaceful settlement is not there yet and this is one of our main objectives. One should work very actively to normalize relations also with countries, with which we have problems. The international community shows understanding toward our approach and they say that today the ball is in the Turkish court and they say that Armenia has travelled her road and now Turkey must travel hers and do what she has promised to the international community.”
Journalists also inquired why mechanisms for investigating incidents that took place on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan had not been established, on which an agreement had been reached last year. Mr. Nalbandyan said that the Azerbaijani side prevented it, “The Azerbaijani side makes statements as if such offers have not been made at all and no agreement has been reached, I think comments are not necessary here. However, recently, even in December, the Azerbaijani side isolated itself, because it confronted the international community. Actually, when the OSCE budget was discussed and the co-chairs proposed the respective contributions to be made, in order to establish this mechanism, Azerbaijan confronted it and when it failed, she threatened to use veto on the general budget, against the OSCE budget. Actually, the Azerbaijanis showed once again that they deny, give up the agreements that have been reached with their participation and confront the international community. These mechanisms could play important role in preventing new incidents.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
