"I never curse, but when I do, I do it in a manly way. I am not responding to R. Hovhannisian, but presenting the facts," said leader of the Republican faction Galust Sahakyan in response to leader of the "Heritage" party Raffi Hovhannisian who had called him a liar. Sahakyan accuses Hovhannisian for signing anti-Armenian documents and the following letter signed by Galust Sahakyan was transmitted to all mass media outlets:
"On February 28, 1992, the OSCE Committee of Senior Officials approved the first international document on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by consensus of representatives of all OSCE-member countries, including Armenia. The document includes the following formulations:
-"Nagorno-Karabakh as the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan"
-Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities, as well as the local authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh"
-Respect the immunity of all borders, be it interior or exterior."
Those formulations definitely prove that the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, which declared its independence by a referendum on December 10, 1991 and then addressed all countries of the world on January 1992, including the Republic of Armenia with the announcement to recognize its independence, was viewed as a territory of Azerbaijan by the senior officials, while the conflict resolution was seen through the return and maintenance of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.
On March 14, 1992 the session of the senior officials' committee reconfirmed its previous decision made on February 28, 1992 by the consensus of all participants, including the representative of Armenia.
On March 24, 1992 the OSCE Ministerial Council held its session in Helinski where Armenia was represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi Hovhannisian. After the meeting, the ministers came to a number of conclusions based on consensus. In addition, "the ministers observed the activities taking place within the framework of the OSCE and gave total consent to the decisions approved by the committee of senior officials."
With this, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as his subject, agreed that Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan and that the resolution of the conflict presupposes the return of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to Azerbaijan.
On March 16, 1992 the trilateral communique was signed by Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan and Armenia's representative was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Arman Navasardyan. The first paragragh of the communique mentioned the Republic of Azerbaijan after the word Karabakh, which proves that the sides view Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan.
Finally, on March 5, 1992 the Russian "Comsomolskaya Pravda" newspaper published the speech of then RA President where he claimed that Karabakh had to remain part of Azerbaijan with the status of an autonomous republic and that the Armenian side is ready to discuss the position at any level.
Thus, in early 1992, Raffi Hovhannisyan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under his leadership were leading the policies of the then authorities of the time aimed at keeping Karabakh within Azerbajian," as stated in the letter by Galust Sahakyan.
