NEW YORK (RFE/RL–UN)–Karabagh was a major theme of Oskanian’s speech earlier on Thursday at the 58th session of the UN General Assembly. Oskanian seized the opportunity to rebut Azerbaijani allegations of "terrorism" and "aggression" voiced by Prime Minister Ilham Aliyev the previous day.
"Indeed–Azerbaijanis are victims–but of their own aggression," Oskanian charged. "They started the war–one-sidedly. They began massacring Armenia’s–citizens of Azerbaijan’s cities: Sumgait–Baku–Ganja. . . The war that followed changed the world for two generations of Armenia’s who have never lived under Azerbaijani rule."
He added that Baku will fail to bring Armenia to its knees by capitalizing on its oil resources and continuing its economic blockade. "Dreaming of future oil sales whose revenues will be used to buy armamen’s–Azerbaijan is anticipating the day when it will have the resources to pursue a military solution–again. This is self-deception–too. Azerbaijan has forgotten that similar fantasies led them to respond militarily to the peaceful deman’s of Nagorno Karabagh’s population for self-determination in 1992."
Drawing attention to the "political exploitation," in the Caucasus region–he said that Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister clearly displayed from the UN podium that in an election year–they are willing–at their peril–to ignore the realities which are self-evident.
"Nearly a decade of negotiations brought us–two years ago–to Key West–Florida–where hosted by the US government–and under the watchful eyes of the Minsk Group co-chairmen–the President of Armenia and–whether the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan likes it or not–the President of Azerbaijan did in fact reach an understanding which reflected those realities."