ARMENIAN MP: OPTIMAL SETTLEMENT OF NK PROBLEM IS PRESERVATION OF STATUS-QUO
Regnum, Russia
April 1 2006
Despite numerous statements that 2006 is auspicious for settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the problem will not be settled
this year, Armenian MP Armen Ashotyan is quoted as saying at a news
conference on April 1. According to him, proposals on deployment of
peacekeeping corps in the conflict settlement and staging a referendum
in Nagorno Karabakh in 15 years are illusions. “We do not know what
the situation will be in 15 years, what demographic situation will be
in Nagorno Karabakh. We should not trust our enemies. So, we should
not hope that the question will be settled in favor of Armenians,”
the Armenian MP noted and added that, as history has shown, the
documents signed would not obtain legal basis.
Armen Ashotyan noted that to settle the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
several models are proposed, in particular, Nagorno Karabakh joining
Azerbaijan, its independence or joining Armenia, but all these models
are inadmissible either for the Armenian, or the Azerbaijani side.
“The only optimal variant of the problem solution is preserving the
status quo. In this period it is necessary to increase investments
in the country, as well as increase human resources in Nagorno
Karabakh,” believes the MP. According to him, political forces in
Armenia should serve to the interests of international political
forces. “The question of Nagorno Karabakh should be used for serving
domestic political interests,” noted Armen Ashotyan.
As the MP thinks, Kosovo’s model cannot become a precedent for
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. “The statement of the
Russian side that Kosovo’s model can be precedent for settlement of
ethnic conflicts in the post-Soviet territory is disputable for the
Armenian authorities,” believes the MP. If Russia is an interested
party in settlement of the Ossetian, Transdnestr and Abkhaz conflicts,
in case of Karabakh conflict the Armenian people is the interested
party, says Ashotyan.