President Serge Sargsian urged not to endorse “updated Madrid Document”

President Bako Sahakian: “Any movement in Armenian-Turkish relations must not and cannot be to the detriment of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.”

by Tatul Hakobyan

Published: Tuesday July 14, 2009

President Bako Sahakian of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic delivers the opening address at a pan-Armenian conference in Stepanakert, as Artsakh Primate Abp. Barkev Mardirossian, ARF Bureau representative Hrant Markarian, and ARF Central Hai Tahd Council chairperson Hagop Der Khatchadourian listen. July 10, 2009. Photolure

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg with Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Yerevan, July 11 2009. Tigran Tadevosian / Photolure

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Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh - A pan-Armenian conference convened in Stepanakert on July 10–11 by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation called on Armenia's President Serge Sargsian to decline to endorse a proposed Karabakh settlement presented by the mediators, and "to take urgent steps to return the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to the negotiating table as a full-fledged party."

U.S. President Barack Obama, President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on July 10 released a statement that called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to endorse "an updated version" of the Basic Principles around which the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides have been negotiating. The three presidents released the statement in their capacities as the heads of the states that co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates in the Karabakh talks. The presidential statement is the first of its kind since 1997.

Mr. Sargsian is scheduled to meet his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, in Moscow on July 17.

On July 8 and 9, the co-chairs of the Minsk Group visited Yerevan and Baku in anticipation of the Moscow summit. For the second consecutive time, they failed to visit Stepanakert, citing the weather. This Armenian Reporter correspondent was on assignment in Karabakh at the time and can confirm that the weather was bright and calm – as it had been the last time the co-chairs avoided visiting Stepanakert.

Yuri Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chair, said in Baku that the Moscow summit would allow "the negotiation process to reach the finish line."

The question of Kelbajar

The "updated version of the Madrid Document of November 2007," which the three presidents summarized in a fact sheet attached to their statement, calls for "the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control." The summary includes no special provisions for the districts of Kelbajar and Lachin, except for a corridor in Lachin linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The original Madrid Document proposed a formula under which Kelbajar would remain under Armenian control until the final status of Karabakh had been determined or, alternatively, until Karabakh's interim status had been recognized.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity on July 10 but before the release of the presidential statement, a former high-ranking Armenian official long involved in both Armenian-Turkish relations and the settlement of the Karabakh conflict told the Armenian Reporter, "Armenia is now prepared to return Kelbajar in its entirety and part of Lachin." Official Yerevan is willing to settle for a 20 –25 km corridor to provide a land connection between Armenia and Mountainous Karabakh, the former official said.

The former official said the international community today seeks progress in the Karabakh issue in order to "save the Armenian-Turkish process," which has reached a dead-end.

Yerevan welcomes Obama-Medvedev-Sarkozy statement

But Armenia's foreign minister, Edward Nalbandian, denied that the "updated Madrid Principles," as outlined by the Obama-Medvedev-Sarkozy statement, are final.

Mr. Nalbandian on July 11 received U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who had been dispatched to Yerevan and Baku in the immediate wake of the presidential statement. At a joint news conference on that day, Mr. Nalbandian said, "Some of the details that appeared on the websites of the OSCE and the co-chair states are being negotiated; some have not been discussed.

"The thing that's important, about which Armenia has been speaking for a long time, is that the statement unequivocally says that the status of Karabakh must be decided by an expression of will of the people of Karabakh, and that will be legally binding. It's important that it speaks of security guarantees. These are important elements, about which Armenia has spoken often as the most important foundations for the resolution of the Karabakh issue," Mr. Nalbandian said.

No settlement without Karabakh's participation

The conference in Stepanakert was held under the auspices of Karabakh's President Bako Sahakian and was organized by the ARF Central Hai Tahd Council.

A resolution released at the conclusion of the conference found "deplorable, unacceptable, and devoid of legal force the adoption of any document negotiated without the direct participation of the fundamental party, the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh." The format of the talks is "distorted," the resolution insisted, and "Armenia has no right to replace" the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

"Armenia must guarantee by all means NKR's security and independence and international recognition of that status." the resolution said.

The statement of the presidents of the United States, Russia, and France, the resolution found, "absolutely does not emanate from the nature and history of conflict. Moreover, it circumvents and completely ignores the will of the people of NKR, already expressed in a lawful format.

"Aware that negotiations require mutual concessions, we at the same time insist that the concessions of the sides, taking into account all elements of the settlement of the conflict, must be commensurate, equal, concurrent, and within a comprehensive package solution. Otherwise, any weakening of the security belt around NKR, without restoring its territorial integrity, will increase the likelihood of war and threaten the population of Artsakh," the resolution stated.