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Matthew Bryza: â€œNone of these suggestions by the Co-Chairs has been agreed by the partiesâ€

08 August 2008 10:40 (UTC +04:00)

â€œI have no choice, but to correct the mistranslations. The easiest thing for me to do would be to stop talking to the press. But, if I did that, I would not be fulfilling my mission as Co-Chairâ€, he said.
I would never mention that there will be a "referendum" in Nagorno-Karabakh. What I said was, the Co-Chairs have proposed a balanced set of suggestions in the form of the Madrid Document, which includes elements such as redeployment of Armenian troops from the seven territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, return of refugees and internally displaced persons, deployment of international peacekeepers, establishment of a corridor linking Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, and perhaps a voting procedure of some sort in which the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh will play some role in determining Nagorno-Karabakh’s future status.
The nature of such a vote and its timing would have to be negotiated between Azerbaijan and Armenia. And, such a vote could occur only after the return of refugees and IDP’s, which would take quite some time.
Moreover, none of these suggestions by the Co-Chairs has been agreed by the parties. Nothing will be agreed until everything is agreed.
It is therefore misleading and inaccurate to claim that I said â€œpeople of NK should determine whether NK should be part of Azerbaijan or not through the referendumâ€.