During the parliamentary Q&A session, RA foreign affairs minister Vardan Oskanyan said that the territorial issue of the Karabakh conflict may be discussed with Azerbaijan only after the determination of Karabakh’s status: “Only in that case will we go into further details.” said the minister. The minister said that it didn’t concern only the territories of Karabakh, but the territories of Armenia as well. “By saying territories we mean all the territories, including the Northern and Eastern parts of Karabakh, Martakert and Martuni. Shahumyan is a part of the package as well”, said Vardan Oskanyan. “Those issues are at different levels, but I assure that all of them are included” said the minister. The minister also said that the OSCE co-chairmen had come up with new proposals regarding the conflict. The foreign minister said that they made their suggestions on October 6, during his meeting with Elmar Mamediarov. Maybe the conflicting parties presented their opinions concerning the mentioned recommendation during the recent meeting in Paris. The minister said that before visiting Paris he had visited Stepanakert as well, and he talked about the role of Karabakh on the proposals. According to Oskanyan, after the meeting in Paris, it seems to him that the conflicting sides aren’t coming to terms regarding the new proposals. The ministers and OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen have decided to try again; the next meeting is going to be on November 14 in Brussels and after that they will visit the region. Oskanyan said that it is absurd to discuss the possibility of having the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents meet before their meeting. He added that the issue of returning some territories was really included in the agenda of the conflict settlement and added that they had negotiated based on the package deal and the main issue was the states of Karabakh and the vote of the people of Karabakh. “It is quite possible that the fulfillment of the agreement may go through phases, but the agreemtn is surely the package deal”.
