ACCORDING TO ALEXANDER MANASIAN, AZERI SIDE RECORDS SUCCESS AND ARMENIAN SIDE DEFEAT ON AGITATION FRONT

Noyan Tapan

M arch 4, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Policy of Nagorno Karabakh problem
dampening or delaying was carried on in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement
negotiations process in the past years. However, as Alexander Manasian,
the Chairman of the Academy of Political Researches NGO, stated at the
March 4 press conference, OSCE Minsk Group undertakes nothing serious
to accelerate the problem settlement. Moreover, according to him,
the main players, RF and U.S., try to find a convenient occasion to
solve the problem in favor of themselves.

Speaking about the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs’ last visit
to Armenia, the political scientist said that this visit had a
number of peculiarities. In particular, according to A. Manasian,
the Co-chairs for the first time spoke about NKR’s return to the
negotiations process. The other peculiarity was that the Co-chairs
decided to have meetings with the public sector.

The political scientist noted that in the process strategy, on the
agitation front the Azeri side constantly records success and the
Armenian side defeat. According to A. Manasian, though Minsk Group
is not interested in problem’s legal side, all the same the Armenian
side should work in the direction of putting the legal arguments
on the negotiations table or appearing on the agitation front. "We
should try to change problem’s legal image, to lay new moral stresses
in our documents and demands put forward to Minsk Group and Europe,"
A. Manasian said. According to him, the issue of genocide committed
against Armenians living in Azerbaijan is among those demands. That
issue is left out of both the agitation front and Minsk Group’s
attention so far.