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Source:
Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2001. YEREVAN, April 26 (Reuters) - Armenia
rejects the idea of Azeri rule in the disputed region of "But anything on the level of horizontal ties will be seriously considered by the Armenian side," he said. The United States has recently ratcheted up efforts to find a solution to the 13-year conflict between the two former Soviet republics. Earlier this month Secretary of State Colin Powell hosted peace talks in the Florida resort of Key West. Mediators are preparing a new peace proposal which will be presented to leaders of both sides in Geneva in June. In the past, Armenia has called for full independence for Nagorno-Karabakh, whose mainly ethnic Armenian population tried to break away from Azeri rule in 1988, triggering six years of fighting in which around 35,000 people died. A ceasefire was called in 1994 after the Azeri army suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Armenian forces, and some 800,000 people fled their homes. But faced with a blockade by its powerful western neighbour Turkey, an Azeri ally, Armenia now seems prepared to compromise. "We do know there has to be compromise," said Oskanyan. "You can't have your cake and eat it too." Pressure on Mediators "They will be extremely careful not to put something on paper that will be rejected outright by one or the other side because that will be a major setback," he said. "The whole process would be undermined and questioned by everybody." Oskanyan said a deal is unlikely to be signed in Geneva as each side will want to discuss the proposals at home where they both face bellicose opposition. "Both countries have their extremists and radicals. Those views have to be taken into consideration," he said. "We will come home and have a public discussion of the document." If necessary, Armenia would hold a referendum on the issue and would include the population of Nagorno-Karabakh in the vote, Oskanyan said. "Karabakh would have to be involved, the Karabakh leadership would have to be involved," he said. "They have to have their say and they would have to be a signatory to this peace agreement." So far Azerbaijan has refused to recognise or negotiate with the Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Last week Azeri Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev said he was not optimistic that the mediators, working under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, would come up with an acceptable deal. Azerbaijan has offered Nagorno-Karabakh a "high degree of autonomy" but it is not clear whether this goes far enough for Armenia. "The messages we're getting from (the Azeri capital) Baku are pretty contradictory," Oskanyan said. "But (the mediators) think there's
enough convergence of views to go further... We think we have
a pretty good chance to make the Geneva talks a success."
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