Armenian Public TV
Dec 30 2008

Armenian official says concessions needed to resolve Karabakh dispute

The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Artur Baghdasaryan, has
said that the long-standing dispute between his country and Azerbaijan
over Nagornyy Karabakh should be resolved through mutual
concessions. In an interview with public television, Baghdasaryan also
called for the normalisation of relations with Turkey. The following
is an excerpt from Baghdasaryan’s interview with state-owned Armenian
Public TV on 30 December:

[Correspondent] Hello, Mr Baghdasaryan. The year 2008 was very
significant for the National Security Council. You have actively
implemented projects and carried out active work. Please give some
details.

[Artur Baghdasaryan] Thank you. That is true that the National
Security Council has held about seven meetings over the past eight
months. Those meetings were related to domestic and foreign issues of
concern to our country, and it can be said for sure that the National
Security Council has worked hard during this year, taking into account
that so many meetings had not been held in the past 14 years. This is
the approach of the president of the Republic of Armenia [Serzh
Sargsyan] that the National Security Council, under the constitution,
should become the state institution to discuss and adopt strategic
decisions.

During those meetings, we have discussed various issues. I would like
to speak about some of them. First, the Armenia-European Union 2009-11
programme was adopted. It was approved by the Security Council. The
Armenia-NATO 2009-10 programme was approved, and also – this was very
important – Armenia took over the presidency of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization [CSTO]. Very serious events are to be
undertaken in 2009. The Security Council approved this too. We have
set up a working group, an intra-agency one, which will watch the
implementation of those three programmes that envisage wide reforms in
the judiciary, in human rights, from the perspective of taking
decisions in socio-economic, military and political areas. In
addition, we were able to conduct large-scale military drills this
year under the CSTO-Rubezh 2008, which also was discussed and received
a positive assessment. This drill helped to improve our combat
compatibility, the conscription ability, to improve and modernize the
civil defence system, and a relative order by the Armenian president
was signed.

[Correspondent] When speaking about the National Security Council’s
priorities, you mentioned our country’s commitments in the framework
of the CSTO. What are Armenia’s priorities as the state presiding over
the CSTO?

[Baghdasaryan] First, Armenia, as a presiding country, is to carry out
serious work during this year. Two meetings of the secretaries of
security councils were held in Yerevan in the framework of CSTO. Also,
a memorandum of understating for strategic cooperation between the
security councils of Armenia and Russia was signed. This includes a
plan for 2009 with many events. Thirty-five events are planned under
the CSTO Security Councils, 25 events are planned for the defence
ministries, foreign ministries, and, also, a number of very important
events will be held in Yerevan in 2009. I would like to mention
consultations under the CSTO. In this regard, we will organize a large
international conference in Yerevan dedicated to the security issues
of the Caucasus. Many OSCE member states have expressed their
readiness to participate because security issues are number one issues
in the world today.

[Correspondent] We spoke about the challenges. The biggest one is the
unsettled Karabakh conflict. This year was unprecedented for the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict given the meeting of the
presidents and the Maindorf declaration that was the first unique
agreement, memorandum signed between the two countries since the
ceasefire. Will the same trend be maintained in 2009?

[Baghdasaryan] We think that being initiative brings too many good
results, and being initiative in foreign policies was seen in 2008,
including in the settlement process of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict. The continuation of the negotiations process was very
important because after the presidential elections in Azerbaijan and
Armenia, 2008 was a favourable year. Let’s hope that 2009 will be
favourable too. Our political approach is very clear – we have to work
towards having decisions favourable for our nation.

There are several questions we should raise and answer: Do we want to
settle the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict or maintain the status quo? I am
sure that the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict would open
up completely new opportunities for regional development. By leaving
unsettled conflicts, including the Karabakh one, to our next
generations, we leave additional burden on our next generations and,
also, we are unable to develop more, participate in regional projects
that could bring additional social and economic prosperity to Armenia.

There are two ways of settling the issue: confrontation and mutual
concessions. I think that mutual concession is a smarter approach than
useless confrontation that we saw in the days of the Georgian-Russian
confrontation, which proved again that a military settlement of a
problem leads to blood, war and unwanted developments. If we speak
about concessions, we have to say what concession is acceptable to us,
where is the limit. In this regard, [Armenian President] Serzh
Sargsyan’s meeting with the leaders of political parties, where the
approaches of the Armenian political leadership to the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict settlement was very important. It is the sovereignty
of the Nagornyy Karabakh people or its reunification with Armenia. We
have nothing to bargain in regard to Nagornyy Karabakh’s status.

Second, any settlement should have international guarantees to ensure
the security of the Nagornyy Karabakh people. The third is having a
land border between Armenia and Nagornyy Karabakh, which is a very
important factor. These are the three key principles on which no
concession is possible. All other issues should be discussed in a
package. I think that the Maindorf declaration on the settlement of
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is a very positive document, and it is
very important that along with the signatures of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents, the signature of the Russian Federation
president appeared there. Moreover, a few days after the signing of
the document, the other co-chairs – France and the USA – backed
it. Europe approved it, and key political principles are included in
this document that may become a legal basis in the future. This, of
course, is a process that should be continued in 2009. The meetings of
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents should continue, and Nagornyy
Karabakh should be actively engaged in this process.

[Passage omitted: Baghdasaryan says he does not think that Karabakh’s
absence at the Maindorf meeting was a problem because Armenia and
Karabakh are one nation.]

[Correspondent] Mr Baghdasaryan, let us talk about the second key
issue that was very active this year – the so-called progress in
Armenian-Turkish relations. Although no real steps have been taken yet
on establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, quite
active work has been done in the second half of the year both in
Armenia and Turkey. [Turkish] President [Abdullah] Gul made a visit. I
would like to hear your assessment of the future of Armenian-Turkish
relations in 2009.

[Baghdasaryan] I think that Armenian-Turkish relations are at the
stage of partnership and dialogue stage, and I consider it very
important politically. The normalization of Armenia’s relations with
Turkey means an additional contribution to Armenia’s economic
development, to many small and medium-sized businesses. It means
getting rid of the image of an eternal enemy. We have four neighbours,
and we don’t have any relations with two of them.

[translated from Armenian]