US State Department official neither confirmed nor denied
Deputy Assistant Secretary for the US Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Bridget Brink, in response to the question of “Aravot” as to whether the information disseminated by some Russia mass media on the scenario to solve the NKR conflict by the option of returning some NKR regions can be taken seriously, replied basically by neither denying nor confirming the likelihood of hand over option of the lands.
She specifically mentioned, “We have a process. The Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the government representatives support this process that is going on through the co-chairs. I am not familiar with those statements, which you are mentioning, but I am sure the co-chairs will support the negotiating process, which will ultimately lead to conflict settlement.”
Note that the Russian “Kommersant” newspaper posted the following scenario in one of its publications after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Armenia, “By the Russian sources standing close to the negotiations, one of the options of the peace plan, which is currently discussed, is as follows: Armenians return Azerbaijan the control of a large part of Azerbaijani territories around Karabakh occupied by them by keeping the Lachin corridor, which provides a connection with Armenia, and possibly one more. Baku officially does not recognize Karabakh’s secession, however, according to the plan, it is obligated not to solve the issue by military means. The guarantee for it could be the deployment of the international peacekeepers (UN, CSTO) in the conflict zone, as well as demilitarization of the regions to be returned to Azerbaijan.”
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Deputy Director for the Caucasus Institute , in an interview with us a few days ago, ruled out the possibility of the existence of such an option, noting that therewith the Russian media is engaged only in speculation. Mr. Minasyan noted, “Karabakh perhaps has last been handed over in the early 1980s, when we still did not have Karabakh in full. Such conversations are taking place after every such meeting. Lavrov’s visit has nothing to do with the Karabakh conflict. Simply, there are mass media that considering Karabakh issue the most sensitive one are speculating on it. The guarantees with the exception of such situation are the Minsk Group co-chairs’ posture to the existing military balance. No such thing is possible. Everyone knows well that in the event when none of the parties is ready for serious concessions, by influencing on someone, they will have a worse situation than they have at this point. The conflict is not resolved by the changes of the territories in any form, first of all, it’s not possible. Why should Armenians decide 25 years later that today they should make unilateral concessions?”
To the observation of “Aravot” that in fact the US State Department official neither denied nor confirmed the existence of the option to solve the conflict by handing some liberated territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies Aghasi Yenokyan responded, “I think that there can be only one interpretation. In any case, if there is any solution to the Karabakh issue, then there will be a return of lands and territories to Azerbaijan. In other words, the ongoing negotiations are just about this matter. The question is what territories they are and what for. These are the questions that still have no answer because the question of for what includes a lot of things, it is both the status of Karabakh, the security of the people living there and the possibilities of contact with Armenia, a wide range of complex issues. Clearly, it is impossible to avoid the issue of returning the land, the question is what it will be for. It is a subject for trade: politics, diplomacy are also a trade. In essence, talks are underway about Karabakh, as a result it will be decided what will happen at the end.”
To our question that the Russian mass media information outflow, in fact, was not accidental, and whether the US State Department official’s response made it clear that the solution of handing over land, however, is discussed, Mr. Yenokyan replied, “This is an information flow organized by the Russian diplomacy, which was aimed at checking the kind of responses in Armenia and Azerbaijan over this information. Unequivocally, all the options put on the negotiation table that have been discussed until now, all of them contained these elements, the same Madrid principles, phase principles and so on.” To our observation that, in fact, it turns out that if we are going to the final settlement of the Karabakh conflict, then there will be an issue of handing over the territories, Mr. Yenokyan responded, “If we are going to the final solution, it is impossible to avoid it, if not, then we avoid this option.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN,
“Aravot” daily
