Question & Answer
Vladimir Karapetian, Acting Head of Press and Information Department, Responds to 'Armenpress' News Agency
September 14, 2006
Question: How does Armenia assess yesterday's initiative by GUAM, and the vote that followed, to place protracted conflicts on the agenda of the UN General Assembly?

Answer: Armenia accepts and respects the right of each country to present a question or an agenda item at the UN. Although this particular item has reached the General Assembly Agenda according to UN procedures, however the fact that the UN General Committee rejected this initiative and that the item passed into the General Assembly with a mere 16 in favor, 15 against, clearly indicates the mood of the international community.

The initiative has been presented by GUAM, of which Azerbaijan is a part. The fact that Azerbaijan has presented such an initiative in such a forum is evidence again that Azerbaijan is backing down from the right of self-determination identified in the last version of the negotiating document that the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have put on the table, as well as from discussions surrounding the right of Nagorno Karabakh to determine its status through a referendum.

On the other hand, if Azerbaijan's purpose is to delay and postpone the settlement process within the OSCE framework with the intention of later transferring that process to other forums, that is categorically unacceptable for Armenia. In that case, Azerbaijan must sit around the negotiating table with Nagorno Karabakh.

 

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