Will Referendum Decide Karabakh's Fate?

[Siamanto]

WILL REFERENDUM DECIDE Artsax'S FATE?

 

Azg/arm

12 Jan 05

 

Oskanian And Mammediarov Resume Bilateral Meetings

 

The regular meeting of RA and Azeri foreign ministers will be held

with the participation of f the OSCE Minsk group mediators in Prague,

on January 10. Vartan Oskanian said in the interview to Interfax

agency before departing to Prague that "the negotiations of this year

will qualitatively differ from the first stage of the Prague process."

 

"At present we will touch upon certain issues and details, while in

the course of the first stage of the Prague process we discussed

general principles. The more we deepen in details the more the

negotiations get complicated. When we begin work with details we

should be ready to make mutual concessions," Oskanian said, expressing

hope that in 2005 "we will be able to fix a progress in the Nagorno

Artsax issue."

 

The Associated Press informed that few days ago Azeri President said

in the sitting of the security council that the settlement of Nagorno

Artsax conflict enters "a new, positive stage". "Certainly, I don't

mean that the conflict is settled. The negotiations are still on and

we spare no efforts to make them go in the way beneficial for us,"

Ilham Aliyev said, adding that the settlement of Nagorno Artsax has

entered "a new stage."

 

On his turn, Yuri Merzliakov, Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group

told the Azeri press that Armenia agreed to make some concessions in

the course of the Prague negotiations. "Now, it is Azerbaijan's turn,"

Merzliakovsaid.

 

During the December 22 press conference, 2004, Oskanian advised the

journalists to pay attention to the article published in the French Le

Figaro. According to him, the article reflects "today's general

trends in the Nagorno Artsax issue." Pierre Lelouche, head of the

NATO parliamentary Assembly, and Anna Palacio, former Spanish foreign

minister, the authors of the article, visited Nagorno Artsax in

autumn and expressed the opinion that "Armenia should have the

temporal control of Nagorno Artsax who's further fate will bedecided

though a referendum in 5 or 10 years."

 

According to daily Azg's information, it is not excluded that Armenia

and Azerbaijan will agree an agreement on Nagorno Artsax conflict

settlement, according to which, the Artsax forces should quit

several Azeri territories under their control, while Baku will agree

to hand the control of Nagorno Artsax to Armenia under the condition

that in 5 or 10 years the status of NKR will be decided through a

referendum.

 

By the way, in the course of the December 22 press conference,

Oskanian said that Yerevan will be able to ratify the right of

Artsax people for self-determination and achieve its international

recognition, on the other hand, he added that the realization of the

right of Artsax's self-determination can be indirect from the aspect

of the time.

 

Last year, in the course of one of his public speeches, RA President

Robert Kocharian drew the attention to the trends of the settlement of

the current conflicts in the other corners of the world, particularly,

he pointed out the crisis in the South Sudan, where interesting

developments take place.

 

A historical event took place in Kenya on January 9, with the

participation of Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, and Colin

Powell, the US State Secretary, as well as the leaders of some African

countries. The South and North authorities of Sudan have signed an

agreement, according to which the status of the unrecognized Blue Nile

and Nuba Mountain's Country will be decided in six years through a

nation-wide referendum.

 

It's worth mentioning that the international community led by the US

has chosen the referendum as a settlement of the conflicts. The same

happened in 2004, when two simultaneous referendums were held in

Cyprus among the Greek and the Turkish communities of the island. It

is not excluded that the fate of Kosovo will also be decided though a

referendum.

 

As for Sudan, it is worth mentioning that the sides in conflict came

to agreement in the following issue. The Southern part of the country

will be announced an autonomy and be governed according to the

principles of autonomy from the July of 2005.While in six years the

country will decide through referendum whether it stays in the

structure of Sudan or it becomes an independent state. John Garange,

leader of the separatists for many years, will become the first rime

minister of Sudan. The oil profits of Sudan that amount to $ 4 billion

annually will be equally divided between the Northern central

government and the Southern autonomy in the course of the coming six

years.

 

BBC states that if the referendum is held tomorrow, the South will

vote for its independence. John Garange, who signed a cease-fire with

the authorities of Sudan two years ago, is for a united state of Sudan

that has two centers.

 

By the way, Sudan and Azerbaijan a number of things in common. The

most important is that both Baku and Khartoum have turned for help to

Osama bin Laden, World's terrorist N1, to settle the Nagorno Artsax

and South Sudan conflicts, relevantly. The US exerted punishment

measures on Sudan for giving shelter to bin Laden years ago. But

Heydar Aliyev felt the danger in time and agreed to cooperate with the

US in its anti-terrorist combat.

 

The conflict burst out in Sudan in 1983, when Khartoum authorities

tried to impose the rules of Islamic law on the population of the

Southern part of the country that don't speak Arabic. About 2 million

people died in thearmed conflict that lasted for 20 years.

 

It's worth mentioning, that the humanitarian crisis that is still on

in Darfur, the Western part of Sudan, should not be confused with the

conflictbetween the South and the North of the country. Darfur

conflict began in 2003, when the rebels of this region began attacking

the authorities, condemning them in racism. About 70 thousand blacks

died in Darfur in two years and 2 million quitted their homes. The US

characterizes Darfur crisis as a genocide.

 

By Tatoul Hakobian

 

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg100756.html

[Siamanto]

Tuesday 11, January 2005

 

Oskanian Guarded After Fresh Artsax Talks

 

By Armen Dulian in Prague

 

Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian remained guardedly optimistic about

prospects for a resolution of the Nagorno-Artsax conflict, but stopped

short of announcing any specific agreements after fresh talks with his

Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Prague on Tuesday.

 

`I wish I could say that there is a full agreement on the principles [of

the settlement],' he told RFE/RL. `But we are still not there. There is

a general framework of issues [discussed by the parties], but as this

meeting showed, they need to be further consolidated.'

 

The three-hour talks took place at the imposing Tuscany Palace of the

Czech Foreign Ministry in the presence of French, Russian and U.S.

mediators, marking the start of what the two ministers call the second

stage of `the Prague process.' They claim to have made progress during a

series of similar meetings held in the Czech capital last summer.

 

Oskanian refused to go into details of the discussions, saying that a

lot remains to be done for hammering out a compromise agreement

acceptable to both parties. `This is a fairly difficult and complex

process and it will continue to be like this during further meetings,'

he said. `On the whole, I consider the overall mood and the atmosphere

positive.

 

`It is still too early too disclose any details. Once we have agreements

on concrete issues, I think we will be able to talk about them little by

little.'

 

Armenian and Azerbaijani media have speculated that Oskanian and

Mammadyarov have been discussing a gradual resolution of the dispute

that would take at least a decade. Azerbaijani officials say the

Armenians have dropped their insistence on a package agreement that

would settle all contentious issues at once. The latter, for their part,

maintain that they will never agree to place Artsax back under

Azerbaijani rule.

 

Asked about chances of a breakthrough in the peace process this year,

Oskanian said, `We are working toward achieving that goal. But it is

still too early to make definite statements to that effect.'

 

 

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg100763.html