On March 21, Vahan Hovhannisyan, Head of the Armenian delegation in OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, NA Vice President, Samvel Nikoyan, member of the delegation, at the press conference called in parliament, gave details of visit to Brussels.

On March, 17 and 18, the representatives of delegations of Armenia and Azerbaijan in OSCE led by the deputy of Sweden Goran Lennmarker, met in Brussels. Lennmarker as a Special Representative on NKR issue, appointed by Chairman of OSCE PA, prepared a report related to NKR conflict. The report submitted approximately one year ago to the Armenian and Azerbaijan sides, according to Vahan Hovhannisyan, was preliminary and contained disputable items. The report being prepared now, Mr. Hovhannisyan characterized as balanced, by, which is, conditioned the discontent of the Azerbaijan side. Owing to this discontent, representation of the issue is canceled: the hearing of the issue is envisaged during the annual session in July in Washington, informed the head of the Armenian delegation in OSCE PA. The adopted resolution will be of consultative character. “Nevertheless, if we have a second report similar to Atkinson character, our position will worsen,” said Vahan Hovhannisyan. During the meetings carried out in Brussels the matter on Euro Integration has been mentioned: the proposed solutions of Armenia and Azerbaijan on settlement of the Karabakh conflict within the framework of the programme, “Wider Europe: New Neighbourhood.” There were discussions on the conflict in European Commission, European Parliament, and in the EU Council of Ministers. There were also negotiations between the sides. As Vahan Hovhannisyan presented, the Armenian delegation managed to convince that in the problem of settlement of Karabakh conflict the priority is the problem of NKR status, and the issues put forward by the Azerbaijan delegation on the occupied territories and refugees are derivatives. An agreement was achieved in Brussels that the final version of the report should be sent to the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations, for making proposals, before submitting to the OSCE all parliamentary delegations and the session. According to NA Vice President, a serious historical opportunity to take a leading position in regional competition is created for Armenia. Mr. Hovhannisyan considers that within the framework of the programme of “Wider Europe: New Neighbourhood” progress is possible only as a result of inner reforms and regional cooperation. All the three Trans Caucasian republics after the session of EU Committee of Ministers planned for April 25 will receive the draft of the activities under the programme “Wider Europe: New Neighbourhood.” Armenia can have maximal benefit from this programme and create favorable atmosphere for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict,” Mr. Hovhannisyan said.

Samvel Nikoyan, the member of the delegation and RPA faction, drew the journalists’ attention to the strategy of the Azerbaijani side. First, the Azeris have tried to move the settlement of the Karabakh conflict from OSCE to completely other plane, in particular, the plane of CE. They also repeatedly speculated some provisions of the CE last resolution adopted on Karabakh conflict, sometimes deforming them. According to Samvel Nikoyan, the arguments of the Azerbaijani MPs have not been seriously recognized in this European structure. As to Samvel Nikoyan, in response to the Azeris arguments on 20% of the occupied territories and one million refugees the Armenian side has objected, saying that all this is the result of the Azerbaijani aggression and before discussing these issues, it is necessary to touch upon its arguments. During the meetings held in Brussels the Armenian MP has drawn his colleagues attention to inter-relation of Arkinson’s report and the aggravation of Karabakh-Azerbaijan border. Mr. Nikoyan noted that this СЕ resolution approached a step not the peace but the war.

The Armenian MPs also noted that attempts of the Azerbaijani delegation to include Atkinson provisions in Lennmarker’s report were unsuccessful.

As to circulating news in press about not taking Artashes Gehgamyan to Brussels, Vahan Hovhannisyan clarified that the meetings were not envisaged for all the members of the delegation, but only for two.