ARMENIA WILL NOT OVERLOOK KARABAKH'S OPINION

RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan paid a visit to Stepanakert a day before the Sargsyan-Aliev meeting to be held in Moscow and was received by President of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan. President Sahakyan and Minister Nalbandyan discussed issues related to the talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. After the meeting, the Minister returned to Yerevan and held a press conference, answering the following questions. -Presidents Medvedev, Sarkozy and Obama made a statement during the G8 summit in Italy on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. How would you interpret that statement? Edward Nalbandyan: We appreciate the desire of the U.S., Russian and French Presidents and their consisent efforts in supporting the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to bring the positions closer and move ahead to the resolution of the conflict. As for certain details regarding the Madrid principles shown on the official webpages of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, they are proposals for the negotiations. Some are being discussed and some are not. I would like to draw attention to the fact that there are three principles that Armenia has declared several times as the basic principles for the conflict resolution. First, Karabakh's legal status must be determined by the expression of will of the people of Karabakh and it must have legal power. Secondly, Karabakh must have a land connection with Armenia and third, there must be international guarantees for security. I must recall that if Azerbaijan still continues to talk only about territorial integrity, while Armenia has been talking about all three principles of self-determination of nations, territorial integrity and no application of forces, the details that have been published confirm what Armenia has been saying all along. -Mr. Minister, the principles shown on the OSCE's official webpage include the proposition on the return of the deported and the refugees. What does that presuppose? Edward Nalbandyan: I have already said and can say once again that there has never been a discussion on that. We can get to that only after the conflict resolution, taking into account the issue of 400,000 Armenian refugees. -In his last interview, the NKR President mentioned that Artsakh is not pleased with the current format of negotiations and there is an impression that the NKR authorities have other approaches for the conflict resolution. What would you say about that? Edward Nalbandyan: Armenia considers Karabakh's complete participation in the talks as a necessity and the guarantee for an effective, peaceful resolution. It is obvious that Karabakh may have different approaches in certain issues, but I would like to emphasize that Armenia attaches great importance to the opinion of the people of Karabakh. Not only can Armenia not overlook it, but it can't come to terms on any issue without the consent of the Karabakh people and administration and proof of that is my visit to Karabakh today.

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Headlines for July 16, 2009

BLACK BOXES FOUND
Iranian experts found two of the three black boxes of the Caspian Airlines' TU-154 plane that crashed during the flight from Tehran to Yerevan, reported representative of Iran's Ministry of Roads and ...
ENDED HUNGER STRIKE
Youth members of the Armenian National Movement ended their hunger strike today in defense of activist Tigran Arakelyan who is in prison. President of the youth wing of the Armenian National Movement ...
NO OFFICIAL MOURNING DAY IN IRAN
There will be no mourning ceremony at the Embassy of Iran in Armenia in memory of the victims of the airplane crash flying from Tehran-Yerevan. There were no bouquets at the embassy and the Iranian flag ...
REQUIEM FOR VICTIMS
A requiem will be held at the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin by His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II on July 18 at 11 a.m. in memory of the victims that died in the Tehran-Yerevan flight. ...
TO MEET TOMORROW
On July 17 Serzh Sargsyan will pay a two-day working visit to Moscow. On the same day the RA President will meet his Azerbaijani counterpart for talks on the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh ...
ACCIDENT AT RESORT
On July 15 at 8:30 p.m. Yerevan resident Rostom Trapizonyan (born in 1998) fell while playing at the "Yerkraban" resort in Hankavan. He was transferred to the Hrazdan hospital with physical injuries and ...
PARENTS COMPLAIN
Mothers of soldiers killed in Armenian military units were standing in front of the government building today with photos of their sons. They don't believe that their sons died from the opponent's shots ...
WANT TO SEE IT WITH THEIR OWN EYES
Families of victims of the TU-154 flight were gathered at the "Zvartnots" airport since morning. Over seven departments were serving nearly 41 passengers who left the Iranian capital of Tehran at 12:45 ...
NALBANDYAN'S RESIGNATION INSTEAD OF SARGSYAN'S?
"There is a lot of pressure on Armenia and the President of Armenia is under that pressure," says ARF Supreme Body member Armen Rustamyan. According to him, the pressure is coming from the three OSCE ...
NERVE CONCUSSION DIAGNOSIS
Tigran Arakelyan, who is currently at the prison of the RA Justice Ministry's "Nubarashen" penitentiary, was transferred to the "Prisoners' Hospital penitentiary" on July 15 with a nerve concussion diagnosis. ...
1,500,000 DRAMS FOR EACH FAMILY
Government officials paid tribute to the victims of the Tehran-Yerevan plane crash on July 15 with a moment of silence before moving on to today's session. The inter-ministerial commission on the airplane ...
EXPRESSED SYMPATHY
Chairman of the RA National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan expressed sympathy to the Chairman of the Mejlis of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Larijani. In his address it is stated: "In this tough moment ...
ARMENIA WILL NOT OVERLOOK KARABAKH'S OPINION
RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan paid a visit to Stepanakert a day before the Sargsyan-Aliev meeting to be held in Moscow and was received by President of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan. ...
PAID TRIBUTE
Heads and representatives of different embassies visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and paid tribute to the victims of the plane crash in the register for mournings. They were ...