YEREVAN. – Former Armenian presidential candidate Andreas Ghukasyan wrote an open letter to OSCE Minsk Group co-chair James Warlick in response to latter's statement at Carnegie Endowment for  International Peace.

“Dear Ambassador,

Your speech at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a bold and decisive step, worthy for respect.
The price of status quo is the interrupted lives of 18-20 years old young boys carrying military service at the Line of Contact.

Unfortunately annual casualties in the conflict zone have not become an incentive for anyone to reach an agreement on a fair settlement of the conflict.

The current situation undermined the credibility of the Minsk Group in the eyes of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh societies.

We can change the situation, if the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group will find the will honestly explain people on what is based six elements of conflict resolution that you offer us to accept as the basis for peace agreement.

The debate on your speech shows that most people did not understand why the right to self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh people is limited within the administrative borders of former soviet Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAR).

Also, many people did not understand why at least 350, 000 Armenian refugees from Baku, Kirovabad, and other Azerbaijani cities do not have free right to live in the areas surrounded NKAR.

It is also not understandable the reason according to which you recognize, that it is vital for Nagorno-Karabakh  to have a corridor linking Armenia, but you don't consider it necessary for Nagorno-Karabakh to have a common border with Iran.

These questions did not find their answers for 20 years. Therefore many people consider your proposal to return territories to Azerbaijani control abandoned by its population in 1993 insufficiently substantiated.

People don't understand why Azerbaijan should be rewarded for the violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the attempt to regain the territory by force, while refusing the peaceful return of the territories.

I think that the next visit of Minsk Group co-chairs to the region is a good opportunity for continuing your honest and open dialogue with public for clarifying the arguments which form the basis of the proposed six elements of conflict resolution”.