KARABAKH PRESIDENTIAL AIDE SET TO CONTEST ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLLS
Mediamax Agency, Armenia
Nov 28 2007
Yerevan, 28 November: Arman Melikyan, an aide to the Nagornyy Karabakh
republic’s [NKR] president, announced in Yerevan today that he would
nominate his candidacy for president in the [2008] election.
Melikyan said he had already sent his resignation application to
NKR president Bako Sahakyan. Melikyan, 44, said he had made up his
mind to run back in October. "I don’t consider myself an alternative
candidate; however, I have my own vision of pulling the country out
of this situation," he said. He added that with the actual start of
the presidential race, a real risk of civil unrest had surfaced that
might harm Armenia’s positions in the Karabakh conflict settlement.
Melikyan said that the "return of the liberated territories
[Armenia-controlled districts around Nagornyy Karabakh] voiced by both
[Armenian Prime Minister] Serzh Sargsyan and [former President] Levon
Ter-Petrosyan may lead to emptying of Nagornyy Karabakh in the future".
"There are no real preconditions for returning those territories,
and Armenia should never get involved in the issue instead of Nagornyy
Karabakh," he said.
Prior to his appointment as an aide to the NKR president, Melikyan was
the NKR envoy to Armenia and worked for the Armenian Foreign Ministry.