DASHNAKS AGAINST LAND CONCESSIONS TO AZERBAIJAN
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
June 25 2007

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) is against
the return of any of the occupied Azerbaijani territories around
Nagorno-Karabakh and believes that they should repopulated by Armenians
instead, a representative of the governing party said on Monday.

"We are against ceding the liberated territories. We are against
giving away any territory," Giro Manoyan, the chief spokesman
for Dashnaktsutyun’s worldwide ruling Bureau, said of the seven
Armenian-occupied districts in Azerbaijan proper.

"The notion that Karabakh must be connected with Armenia through a
single corridor is unacceptable to us," he added in a clear reference
to international mediators’ existing peace plan on Karabakh.

The plan calls for the liberation of at least six of the occupied
districts before the holding of a referendum of self-determination
in Karabakh. Armenia’s leadership has largely accepted this peace
formula. Dashnaktsutyun leaders have never publicly rejected this
stance or threatened to quit the governing coalition, in which their
party is a junior partner.

Manoyan would not specify what the nationalist party will do if the
authorities in Yerevan press ahead with the proposed settlement.

Blaming Azerbaijan for the collapse of the latest round of peace
talks, he said instead that Yerevan should stop even talking about
territorial concessions to Baku.

"Given Azerbaijan’s position during the entire negotiating process,
we no longer have reason to make such statements, even if they cast us
in a positive light," Manoyan told a news conference. "Because if you
say the same thing for many times you will eventually start believing
it. So it would be good to put an end to those statements and put
the emphasis on resettlement [of the Armenian-controlled lands]."

"It is important to instill in the people the notion that repopulated
territories can not be given back. That is why the resettlement must
start quickly," he said.

Manoyan also made the point that the Karabakh dispute will likely
remain unresolved in the foreseeable future and that Armenia should
therefore eventually formally recognize Karabakh’s secession from
Azerbaijan. "If negotiations yield no results in two, three, five
or ten years … it is clear that Armenia should either recognize
Karabakh’s independence or annex it," he said. "There is no other
option."