17:08, 6 April 2004

Karabakh rights defender: Azerbaijan people should resolutely declare against military operations

"I am convinced there will be no large-scale military operations in the zone of the Karabakh conflict. People in Azerbaijan are not so silly to forget about the military potential of our country," coordinator of the Karabakh NGO Helsinki Initiative - 92 Karen Ogandzhanian said in his interview with the new newspaper Demo published in Stepanakert.

Talks on the Karabakh settlement have reached a deadlock because of "Azerbaijan's one-sided position in the issue of opposing to Nagorny Karabakh's participation in the negotiation process as a conflict party," Mr Ogandzhanian said.

"I think the Azerbaijan people should resolutely declare against the military operations. My opinion is that the Karabakh conflict will not be resolved in the nearest 10 years, therefore the duty of present leaders and ordinary citizens is to decide who to coexist all these years," he added. The resumption of the dialogue between Nagorny Karabakh and Azerbaijan should be started on the civil level, intellectuals, war victims, young leaders and other people being involved in the process.

Source: REGNUM News Agency