ARMENIA RAPS EU PARLIAMENT

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ARMENIA RAPS EU PARLIAMENT OVER KARABAKH RESOLUTION

Karine Kalantarian, Ruzanna Stepanian

 

http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2049399.html

21.05.2010

 

Armenia -- Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian at a news conference

on March 2, 2010.

 

Armenia criticized the European Parliament on Friday for demanding

the "withdrawal of Armenian forces from all occupied territories of

Azerbaijan" in its latest resolution on the South Caucasus.

 

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said the demand contradicts

international mediators' existing plan to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh

which has been endorsed by the European Union.

 

The non-binding resolution adopted by the EU legislature on Thursday

does not specify whether the Armenian side should pull out of only

Azerbaijani districts surrounding Karabakh or the disputed region as

well. It only rejects the notion that "Nagorno-Karabakh includes all

occupied Azerbaijani lands surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh."

 

Nor does the resolution, drafted by Bulgarian Socialist lawmaker

Evgeni Kirilov, explain whether the Armenian troop pullout should start

immediately and unconditionally or after the signing of a comprehensive

Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement. The latter condition is a key element

of the so-called Madrid Principles of settling conflict that have

been proposed the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-chairing the

OSCE Minsk Group.

 

Nalbandian said that the resolution demand is at odds with both those

principles and a joint statement on Karabakh that was made by the

presidents of the three mediating powers in July. "There is an obvious

confusion in the formulations, and I think one of the reasons for that

is that the author of the resolution has never been in Karabakh and the

[broader] region, and did not consult with representatives of France,

an EU member state and OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, when drawing up

his report," he told a news conference.

 

"That is the reason why some of the [resolution] provisions also

contradict the EU's position, which has been repeatedly articulated,"

Nalbandian said.

 

The European Parliament did make clear that it supports the Madrid

document and the mediators' efforts to have it accepted by the

conflicting parties. The proposed framework accord calls for the

liberation of virtually all Armenian-controlled territories around

Karabakh in return for a future referendum on self-determination in

the disputed territory itself.

 

In what appears to be a message primarily addressed to Azerbaijan,

the resolution also says the EU legislature "condemns the idea of

a military solution" to the dispute. It further stresses that "the

Armenia-Turkey rapprochement and the OSCE Minsk Group negotiations

are separate processes that should move forward along their own

rationales."

 

Nalbandian's criticism was echoed by parliamentary representatives

of the three political parties making up in Armenia's coalition

government. "Drawing up incomplete and unprofessional reports on such

crucial and sensitive issues is unacceptable," said Eduard Sharmazanov

of the Republican Party of Armenia led by President Serzh Sarkisian.

 

Opposition leaders also described the European Parliament resolution

as pro-Azerbaijani, blaming the Sarkisian administration for it. Levon

Zurabian, a leader of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK),

charged that the document's passage was a "disgraceful defeat" for

Armenian diplomacy.

 

Another opposition force, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation

(Dashnaktsutyun), was more cautious in criticizing the document. One

of its parliament deputies, Artsvik Minasian, called it "unbalanced"

but said the initial version of the resolution was even less favorable

for the Armenian side. He said it was amended under pressure from

Armenian diplomats and Dashnaktsutyun's lobbying structures in Europe.

 

Meanwhile, European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA), a Brussels-based

non-governmental group, took issue with the highly negative reaction to

the resolution from Yerevan. While agreeing that its Karabakh-related

wording is "confusing," the EuFoA insisted that the European Parliament

endorsed all of the Madrid principles.

 

"This means concretely that the withdrawal of troops can only take

place, if there are sufficient security guarantees for the population

of Karabakh, a corridor to Armenia, an agreement to the final status

of Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will and the

right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to

their former homes," EuFoA said in a statement. "No EU institution has

ever demanded the withdrawal of troops without such a comprehensive

solution - this EP resolution has not changed that."

 

"The same report for the first time calls for extending EU programs

to Karabakh, ending the de-facto blockade for EU officials to travel

to Karabakh. This would have a very positive effect of stabilization

and progress for Karabakh and would no longer submit such actions to a

veto from Azerbaijan," said the statement. It added that the European

Parliament also endorsed Yerevan's insistence on a normalization of

Turkish-Armenian relations regardless of a Karabakh settlement.

 

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg320606.html