"A STRANGE SLAP IN THE FACE OF ARMENIAÂ"
Anna Israelian
Aravot.am
28 June 06
The former Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia about the NK
conflict settlement.
After the unprecedented step of the OSCE Minsk group American
cochairman Mathew Brayza, which declassified some details of the
negotiations, we turned to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Armenia Vahan Papazian for interpretation. We got the same answer,
which we had already heard as the answer to our request for interview
after Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliev meeting in Bucharest. That
is, he won’t say anything new besides what he has already said
in his interview given to our newspaper in 2000 and he insists on
his remarks. Vahan Papazian said in 2000 that it was impossible in
principle to get better results than we could conceivably have in
1997. Â"I’m not sure that nowadays political leadership is sincerely
anxious for the settlement of this conflict. Certainly, they can
declare that they do their best, look, we negotiate, discuss versions
and when we come to a conclusion, we’ll produce it to the political
powers and public and will hold a referendum necessarily etc. But
there isn’t any certain agreement, and they can negotiate for many
years." A comparison was published in Â"AravotÂ" 6 years ago, which
showed how Robert Kocharian’s and Levon Ter-Petrosian’s approaches
round the NK conflict settlement had become too close.
Vahan Papazian also noticed that similarity; Â" And it is natural. In
general, I mark the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998 as a greatest
nonsense in the political life of our country. For not being understood
wrong, I must stress that it was irreversible nonsense. We missed the
opportunity of settling the NK conflict by dignified peace. Even the
common diplomat knows that we must go for concessions from the strong
position. Our positions were stronger in 1997. It seems to me that if
there is a political settlement, Armenia, in particularly Karabakh,
won’t have decisive vote any more. The word Â"IfÂ" in this affirmation
is very essentialÂ".
Another Former Minister of Armenia Alexander Arzumanian spoke about
Mathew Brayza’s interview in the Â"PastarkÂ" club mentioning that
he saw Â"nothing strange" in declassification of proposals. In
his opinion, the meaning of Brayza’s interview is; Â"that we have
already proposed and the presidents of the countries must be brave
to explain this to their people. And they try to involve the public
into dispute, which is indeed a natural process. If you remember,
Levon Ter-Petrosian’s proposal of dispute led to the changeover of
political powers in time. Now a proposal of dispute is made againÂ".
To the Â"AzatutiunÂ" b/s question whether Robert Kocharian would be
invited to Washington Mathew Brayza answered; Â"There is no reason
for Robert Kocharian not to visit Washington. I hope that we can see
in Armenia the same positive steps of democratic reforms as we see
in AzerbaijanÂ". Alexander Arzumanian mentioned on this occasion;
Â"It is strange when the official of middle section allows himself
to tell Armenia; go and reach to the level of Azerbaijan then we’ll
invite your president. It is a strange slap. I have spoken for many
times, that there isn’t democracy in Armenia, but saying democracy,
I have never mean to be compared with Azerbaijan or Belarus".
Speaking on Brayza’s detections to the RA MFA replies, the former
Foreign Minister has said that it simply showed the weakness of
our Foreign Ministry. The MFA wanted by that declaration to remove
doubts but it deepened them, showing that they negotiate today about
territories of the NK security zone, about withdrawal of military
forces from all territories. "What does Karabakh get? To hold a
referendum? That people have already made their decision. This
authority has come to power just for that reason, to settle the
problems of the NK conflict and re-annexation with Armenia. Please,
settle it", – Alexander Arzumanian recorded the failure of "triumphal"
and "no piece of land" policy.
–Boundary_(ID_v8bEbjwrJSrHlQ2Wyq+OQw)–