"We separate the issue of the NKR status from the issue of the conflict settlement. We should speak about the necessity of liquidation of war consequences, and that should be done in the context of internationally recognized norms of securing the human rights,"
Arman Melikian, the NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs stated at the meeting which took place at the July 21 National Press Club. According to him, no great changes have taken place in the process of negotiation on peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Besides, Arman Melikian affirmed that the negotiation process is significantly active, and highly estimated the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen's efforts. As for the participation of the NKR in the negotiations, the Minister mentioned that the Karabakh party is ready to participate in the negotiations but does not consider that participation an end in itself: "For us it is important to make sure that those negotiations are aimed to concrete results."
At the same time, he emphasized that the NKR gets the whole necessary information about the process of the negotiations. He disproved the news about the presence of disagreements between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh in the issue of the peaceful settlement of the conflict: "There is no need that we agree with the RA authorities around every issue, but it is unequivocal that our interests coincide, and we reach an agreement as a result of discussions on any theme." As for the information appeared in the press about holding a referendum in the NKR, return of territories, possibility of Azeri refugees' return, Arman Melikian stated that just the Azeri sources are the reason of such "leakages": "Those are usually news from unknown sources, we can not affirm them."
According to the NKR Foreign Minister, today there is one issue that the Co-Chairmen and the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan attempt to solve: that is the necessity of the creation of a "negotiation atmosphere." "Other issues will be discussed only after that, it is very important to reach such an atmosphere as it is impossible to lead negotiations and reach an agreement without it. It is another case that positions of the parties are significantly different," Arman Melikian stated. As for the distribution of peace-keepers on the conflict zone, he mentioned that Nagorno Karabakh prefers to provide security itself and prefers not to see foreign forces in which there is no necessity.
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