Azernews.Az

Armenian President Robert Kocharian has claimed that the differences between Armenia and Azerbaijan on settlement to the long-standing Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict “are not that great and concern several issues”.
Kocharian’s statement came during his address at the Helsinki University in Finland on Tuesday. He maintained that the remaining issues to be agreed by the parties to the conflict are chiefly of technical nature.
“For instance, should the term ‘referendum’ or ‘plebiscite’ be used? This could be agreed. But if intense armament, belligerent rhetoric and constant threats persist, an impression will occur that we are talking about two different processes. This means moving in the opposite direction,” Kocharian said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded.
Azerbaijan has repeatedly said it would not concede a single patch of its land and resort to any means, including military action, to liberate its territories from occupation. The country’s defense spending has been growing at a high rate.
Kocharian said a document purportedly on the negotiating table was aimed at reaching “a logical decision”, which is in contradiction to ongoing developments. “It is for this reason that there are no valid grounds for me to be optimistic.”
The Armenian leader said the “stage-by-stage conflict resolution” was possible, but it should be part of a fully agreed package. He claimed that there should be no pre-conditions for a settlement and discussions on determining the status of Upper Garabagh should not be linked to the return of the occupied land or repatriation of refugees.