ARMENIAN PERMEP WILLING TO WORK WITH AZERBAIJAN ON

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000178 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL AJ AM SUBJECT: ARMENIAN PERMEP WILLING TO WORK WITH AZERBAIJAN ON KOSOVO TEXT ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Ambassador Khalilzad told Armenian Permrep Martirosyan on February 25 that the U.S. would not support the text tabled by Azerbaijan on February 20 under its General Assembly agenda item on "the Situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan." Martirosyan expressed willingness to work on a different, mutually-acceptable text to allay Azerbaijan's concerns regarding Kosovo. Khalilzad said the U.S. would be willing to facilitate work on such a text if there were interest among all parties. Action request; see para 4. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) On February 25, Ambassador Khalilzad told Armenian Permrep Martirosyan that the U.S. would not support the text tabled by Azerbaijan on February 20 under the General Assembly agenda item "the Situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan." Martirosyan speculated that Azerbaijan might have been using Kosovo as a pretext, but Armenia had committed not to exploit Kosovo to political ends. Martirosyan relayed that FM Oskanian recently told his Georgian and Ukrainian counterparts that, in order to allay concerns, Armenia is considering the possibility of a resolution affirming that Kosovo is not a precedent for other conflicts. Martirosyan said both Georgia and Ukraine's FMs had expressed support for this to Aremenian FM Oskanian. ¶3. (SBU) Khalilzad told Martirosyan that the U.S. would be ready to facilitate work on a resolution acceptable to all if Armenia and Azerbaijan were willing to engage. Martirosyan said he understands that Azerbaijan's UN mission has instructions to push the current text to a vote no matter what. Martirosyan informed Khalilzad his mission will circulate a non-paper on Azerbaijan's resolution and expressed concern that Azerbaijan will have approximately 40 supporting votes from the OIC. Martirosyan warned that Armenian President-elect Sargsyan will be unable to maintain support for the current Minsk Group approach if Azerbaijan's resolution passes. ¶4. (SBU) Action Request: USUN seeks Department and Embassy Baku's views on whether Azerbaijan's tabling of its resolution was genuinely driven by concerns regarding Kosovo and whether Azerbaijan would support a resolution stating that Kosovo is sui generis and not a precedent for other conflicts. KHALILZAD