THE TRILATERAL DECLARATION AS ASSESSED BY ARMENIAN POLITICAL FORCES
Nvard Davtyan

"Radiolur"
03.11.2008 17:49

On November 2 the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia held a
trilateral meeting in Moscow. As a result of the negotiations the three
Presidents signed a declaration, which states that there is no format
for talks other than the OSCE Minsk Group, the military solution to
the issue is non-perspective and the negotiations should be continued
on the basis of free will of the parties. This is how representatives
of all the coalition forces assess yesterday’s meeting in Moscow.

Spokesman for the Republican Party of Armenia, MP Edward Sharmazanov
notes that the resoluteness to continue the negotiations in the Minsk
Group format provided for in the document disappoints all those who
were insisting that Serzh Sargsyan was recently working to involve
Turkey in the process as mediator.

According to the Secretary of the Prosperous Party of Armenia Aram
Safaryan, the signing of the declaration marked the continuation of
the negotiation process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group,
exclusion of the use of force and resolution of the issue on the
basis of the will of parties.

Head of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction Vahan Hovhannisyan sees elements
of his pre-election platform in the declaration. The question refers
to the signing of an agreement on non-application of force, which
Dashnaktsutyun was speaking about. The negotiations will continue in
the direction of peaceful resolution of the issue. Vahan Hovhannisyan
considers that the continuation of discussions in the Minsk Group
format is our diplomatic victory. All other kinds of mediation,
discussions of the issue in other instances are already secondary.

The head of the ARF faction noted, however, that it’s negative that
Nagorno Karabakh does not participate in the talks. "The future
involvement of Karabakh is the negotiations in not provided for. But
I think that our future steps can emphasize this as a necessity."

Vice-President of the Orinats Yerkir Party Heghine Bisharyan assesses
the signing of the declaration as an important and daring step for
the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh issue.

"The provisions of the declaration envisage that the meetings will
continue, there will be dialogue between the two countries, which will
provide an opportunity to refer to those issues, which resulted in
today’s conflict. As far as I understand the issue can be solved only
via mutual concessions, because both countries have their approaches.

It’s quite possible that Azerbaijan will change its position as a
result of dialogue," Heghine Bisharyan considers.

Head of the "Heritage" faction, the only parliamentary opposition
force, Armen Martirosyan said the issue has not been discussed in the
faction. "I think there are many points to be discussed connected
with both Madrid Principles and legal issues. The activeness will
not reduce, but I don’t what to predict what it will result in."

As for the non-parliamentary opposition, Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s Press
Secretary Arman Musinyan said the issues is still being discussed
and their position will be announced within the coming days.