ARMENIA HAS TO ADOPT AN AGGRESSIVE STANCE ON KARABAKH ISSUE, SAYS POLITICAL SCIENTIST
By G. Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
25/12/2007
Peace Negotiation Process Expected to be Calmer in 2008
The passing year proved fruitless in sense of peace negotiations on
Nagorno-Karabakh, and the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan in Saint Petersburg was a proof of the stalemate in the
peace process, stated yesterday at "Pastark" ("Argument") discussion
club political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazarian, summarizing the
progress of the process on Karabakh in 2007. He expressed confidence
that the warlike declarations of the Azerbaijani authorities are
based upon the swiftly growing military budget, and Armenia’s passive
stance is caused by the neutrality and complementariness of its
foreign policy.
"Our foreign policy must change with the new President, and
Armenia must shift from a defensive to an aggressive stance on
Nagorno-Karabakh," stated Mr. Melik-Shahnazarian, adding that the
defensive position of Armenia has exhausted itself.
To Levon Melik-Shahnazarian’s opinion, the people of Armenia is able
to elect a President who can take care about the national interests of
his country and represent the Karabakh issue in a due manner. "All of
the candidates seem to have certain national ideology, except Levon
Ter-Petrosian, who has proved with his whole activity and is now
stating that the democratic values and human rights are more important
to him than the rights and the interests if his nation," he said.
The aggressive policy, in the opinion of Melik-Shahnazarian, does
not imply making warlike statements in the manner of Azerbaijan,
but posing certain conditions and making certain demands.
"For example, we have the right to claim a place for Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic representative in the UN, even without a right of vote. Let
us not forget that the UN is an organization of united nations,
not states. We can demand the statehood of NKR to be recognized
officially. Artsakh must become a part of the conflict," said the
political scientist.
Melik-Shahnazarian added that the negotiations on Karabakh will be
much calmer in 2008, than during the previous years. He assured that
the possibility of a new war is ridiculously low, as none of the
major states is interested in a war in South Caucasus.