"ANY THREE-FOLD BARGAIN IS INADMISSIBLE"

A1+
[08:41 pm] 17 September, 2008

"Any three-fold "bargain" in view of the Karabakh issue without NKR’s
participation is nonsense as Karabakhi people should be involved in the
talks. They possess the required military, human and economic potential
to solve their problems themselves. Armenia simply supports Karabakh in
this issue. Actually, the three-side meeting-Armenia-Turkey-Azerbaijan
will not have a tangible outcome," said Academician Ara Sarkissian,
member of "Academy on Geopolitical Affairs."

"How can you bargain over something which does not exist?" Ara
Sarkissian said with regard to the authorities’ intention to surrender
the occupied territories.

During the war Turkey assisted Azerbaijan in everything. The country
dispatched instructors and military specialists to Azerbaijan.

Ara Sarkissian thinks "Iran can become a real mediator between the
conflicting sides as the liberated territories border on the country
and are within the realms of Iran’s geopolitical interests."

Currently, Armenia’s authorities are doing their best to improve
relations with Turkey. One shouldn’t go to self-sacrifice for a
country which doesn’t even recognise Armenia’s genocide, which has
Article 301 and which takes every possible measure to force Armenia
to knees. This is simply inadmissible. Yes, it would be nice if we
bettered our relations with our neighbors, opened the borders but not
through self-sacrifice. This shouldn’t be done at the expense of our
history or geopolitical cards-the occupied territories.

"The USA is surely interested in the improvement of the
Armenian-Turkish ties. If the country weren’t interested in the
negotiations, the meeting wouldn’t be fixed in Washington. On the
other hand, if the USA is really that interested in the bilateral
ties it could have opened the border over the past 15 years."