THE ISSUE OF THE NAGORNYY KARABAKH REPUBLIC SHOULD BE SETTLED NOW. THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF ARMENIA HOLDS THE SAME OPINION
by Nelly Grigoryan

Aravot
Nov 21 2008
Armenia

The leader of the Communist Party of Armenia, Ruben Tovmasyan, has
shared his impressions about a discussion on the Nagornyy Karabakh
issue organized at [President] Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation and attended
by 47 parties on 20 November in a concert and sports complex. Those
were mostly positive, especially that "every party was granted an
opportunity to voice its own approaches".

Tovmasyan said that the leaders of the 47 parties had the same opinion
about three main points of the discussion: "First, the issue of the
status of Karabakh should be solved in a way suggested by the fight
of the Armenian people, which started in 1988. Various negotiations
were discussed, including the Madrid ones and the Moscow declaration
[signed by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on 2
November 2008]. Most of the leaders of the parties believe that the
Karabakh talks are being carried out in a very correct manner and that
an opportunity should be created for the country’s leadership to settle
the issue in the quickest possible way that is most favourable for
Armenians." Tovmasyan welcomed the Moscow declaration in his speech,
as "in this declaration and later in an address to [the Russian
State] Duma, [Russian President Dmitriy] Medvedev stated that the
Russian Federation will not leave the Caucasus. The most important
thing is that the issue of ruling out hostilities is stated with the
signatures of the leaders of the three states [Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Russia]." Tovmasyan said that "participants in the meeting
stated that delaying a settlement to Karabakh is not favourable
for Armenia. Very favourable conditions for the settlement of the
issue have been established now against the background of the latest
developments in the world."

As is stated in the Madrid principles, the Karabakh issue should be
settled through preserving Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, that is
to say the liberated territories [the currently Armenian-controlled
territories around Karabakh] should be returned, meanwhile our
political forces state mainly that the lands will not be returned. We
asked Tovmasyan how these two contradicting principles were compared
against each other during the discussion. "It is a correct position
that no piece of land should be returned. However, the Madrid
principles cover Karabakh’s status, its land links with Armenia and
the security of Nagornyy Karabakh. These are the key points in this
document, which lead to assumptions on the return of territories or
other issues today… [ellipses as given]"

As for the expected referendum [on Nagornyy Karabakh status], Tovmasyan
said: "The referendum should be held under conditions favourable for
the Armenian side. We should hold the referendum not in 20 years,
but at a time when the whole people of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic
can participate in it, and not when they [Azerbaijan] will have
an advantage at the expense of the participation of Azerbaijani
refugees." How will this be ensured in practice, if every day
Artsakh [Karabakh] is losing Armenians? "If at issue is the return of
Azerbaijani refugees, then Armenian refugees need to be discussed as
well. I headed the committee on refugee issues during that period and
I know under what conditions Sumqayit [city in Azerbaijan], Baku and
Karabakh were emptied.

Asked whether the government gave clear guarantees that the referendum
would be held in a period and under conditions favourable for us,
Tovmasyan replied in the affirmative. The issue of replacing Armenian
troops in the liberated territories with peacekeepers was not discussed
during yesterday’s meeting: "Speaking about this would have been
unnecessary – everyone said in their speeches that returning the
territories was out of the question, even at a later time – other
conditions more favourable for Armenians are to be established,"
Torosyan said.