Azernews.Az

The recent statement issued by the presidents of Russia, the United States and France – the three countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group brokering settlement to the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict - has drawn an angry response in Armenia, with riled activists taking to the streets.
Presidents Dmitry Medvedev, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy, in their joint statement, issued during a G8 summit in Canada, called on the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to finalize the main principles of Garabagh settlement in order to begin drafting a peace accord. The statement referred to several key principles of the peace process, including the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno Garabagh to Azerbaijani control, an interim status for Nagorno Garabagh providing guarantees of security and self-government, the determination of the future legal status of the Azerbaijani region through a legally binding expression of will and the right of refugees and IDPs to return home, as well as international guarantees of security, including peacekeeping operations.
Representatives of the ultra-nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party and Nikol Agbalyan youth organization marched to the OSCE office in Yerevan. Artur Kazaryan, an activist of Dashnaktsutyun, claimed that the co-chairing countries’ leaders had expressed an inadequate stance on the Garabagh problem.
The protesters said in a letter submitted to the OSCE office that Dashnaktsutyun believes the Minsk Group should reconsider the premise of its mediating mission. An OSCE representative who received the letter said his office was responsible merely for the developments in Armenia and does not state its position on such issues.