VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: PERFECT VARIANT OF SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT
IS STAGE-BY-STAGE, WITH THE PROBLEM OF STATUS SOLVED FIRST

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The fault of the Armenian party is
that it fails to figuratively represent in international instances the
real reasons of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and doesn’t use as a
“weapon” the consequences of the conflict. Vahan Hovhannisian, the RA
NA Deputy Chairman, a member of ARF Bureau expressed this opinion at
the March 30 parliamnetary hearings dedicated to the Karabakh
issue. According to him, there are three ways led to the targeted
solution of the conflict: war; establishment of any relations only
after the conflict settlement; establishment of relations without
pre-conditions, which may allow to find a solution to the conflict
later. According to the speaker, the first two options are
“Azerbaijan’s” ways. Azerbaijan demands to restore its territorial
integrity with the means of negotiations, otherwise threatening with
the war. The third way is the “Armenian” one. According to Vahan
Hovhannisian, for many times the Armenian party offered to establish
relations of different levels with the prospect to find a solution
later, as a result of discussions of the conflict settlement, mutual
concessions, satisfying both parties. This way is refused by the
Azerbaijan party. According to the NA Deputy Chairman, on April 25,
the Ministers’ Council of the European Union will finally adopt the
program of activities concerning the participation of the three South
Caucasian states in “New Neighbourhood” program. Those will be
“prescriptions”, by which the countries, without becoming a member of
the EU, will become a part of the European united economical
space. The approch of the EU, namely, establishment of guaranteed
peace, is advantageous for Armenia. But this worries Azerbaijan,
“that’s why, from fear, it makes more and more agressive statements.”
According to V.Hovhannisian, it is necessary for Armenia, to implement
serious reforms in all spheres without imitation, to be fully included
in this program. According to the speaker, the perfect variant of the
conflict settlement is the stage-by-stage one, with the the issue of
the status being the foremost to be solved. The package variant is the
greatest concession by Armenia as it agrees to discuss the problem of
the status together with secondary questions. Vahan Hovahannisian
suggests to implement guaranteed solution of the issue of the
status. As the international community refuses to take the role of the
guarantor, Armenia must guarantee the security of the Nagorno Karabakh
and determination of its status independently, as the only decisive
subject is the Nagorno Karabakh people.