ARMENIAN AND AZERI FOREIGN MINISTERS FAIL TO MEET AT UNITED NATIONS...No Progress Made In Karabakh Negotiations

Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mammadyarov



The Foreign Ministers of both Armenian and Azerbaijan took turns addressing the 61st session of the United Nation's General Assembly late Monday night, but speculation that they would meet behind the scenes failed to materialize. Furthermore, both diplomats were fairly pessimistic regarding any near-term solution to the Karabakh dispute.

The Armenian FM, Vartan Oskanian, may have gotten cold-feet after the General Assembly's decision earlier this month to discuss Karabakh in conjunction with other "frozen conflicts" in the former Soviet Union. The issue was included in the UN agenda at the urging of the GUAM group of nations (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova). Armenia has always insisted that the Minsk Group remain the sole mediating body for the Karabakh issue.

Vartan Oskanian said in his speech that, "the people of Nagorno-Karabakh chose long ago not to be represented by the government of Azerbaijan. They were the victims of state violence, they defended themselves, and succeeded against great odds, only to hear the State cry foul and claim sovereignty and territorial integrity."

For his part, Elmar Mammadyarov, the Azeri FM told the Assembly that, "the occupying forces have to withdraw from the occupied territories and necessary conditions have to be in place to allow the secure and dignified return of the Azeri displaced to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions." Mammadyarov argued that a breakthrough in negotiations would be difficult since Armenia "rejects face-to-face meetings and refuses to take a constructive approach to solving the Karabakh issue."

Answering this charge, Oskanian commented that Armenia has largely accepted the Minsk Group's current peace plan that would allow the predominately Armenian populace of Karabakh to determine the disputed region's status in a referendum. "Armenia is on record, he said, and we have agreed to each of the basic principles in the document that's on the table today."