It is sad that destructive position
of Baku regarding the Karabakh settlement, the militaristic rhetoric of
Azerbaijani establishment that reached the rank of the state policy of
xenophobia, that jointly hinder peaceful settlement of the conflict, were not
reflected in the statement made by the OSCE MG co-chairmen, vice-speaker of the
Armenian parliament, Edward Sharmazanov, told Arminfo correspondent when
commenting on the latest statement by the OSCE MG co-chairs.
He emphasized that there is no alternative to peaceful
settlement of the Karabakh conflict, but because of destructive policy
conducted by Baku, one should not speak
about settlement of the conflict in the near future.
When touching on the word expression of the statement
about the "occupied territories", Sharmazanov emphasized:
"Certainly, there are the occupied territories under the control of
Azerbaijan. I mean Getashen, Martunashen and Artsvashen which Baku should
return earlier. I should recall that the people of Karabakh did not start the
war, they were only forced to respond to the battle actions started by
Azerbaijan. The Karabakh conflict is not a territorial conflict, but a conflict
of self-determination of the people".
He also emphasized that for ensuring progress in the
Karabakh settlement, it is necessary to take Karabakh back to the negotiating
table, as final settlement of the conflict depends just on Karabakh. "As for the compromises for settlement
of the conflict, this issue should be determined by Stepanakert after its
coming back to the negotiating table. Only Stepanakert should decide in what
issues and how much to go to concessions", - vice-speaker of the
parliament said. At the same time, Sharmazanov also pointed at positive sides
of the statement by the intermediaries. "It is strictly clear from the
statement that the co-chairs agree to the fact that Nagornyy Karabakh is an
independent entity, the transitional and final status of which should be
determined on the basis of expression of the will of the Karabakh people, which
will be valid".