ACCORDING TO RPA DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, FIRST OF ALL IT IS NECESSARY TO CLARIFY STATUS OF KARABAKH AND ONLY THEN TO DISCUSS ISSUE OF TERRITORIES

Noyan Tapan
July 24, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. There was a considerable leakage
of information on the Karabakh problem settlement negotiations
in recent years so the publication of the Madrid Principles would
not be a sensation. The deputy chairman of the Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) Galust Sahakain expressed this opinion at the July 24
press conference. According to him, the Madrid document is not yet
a final solution of the problam, but it is a basis for continuing
the negotiations, and in this document it was established for the
first time that the problem must be solved based on the principle
of self-determination of nations. In response to the reporters’
words that there is no such wording in the Madrid document, the
RPA deputy chairman stated that "mentioning a referendum means
self-determination".

As regards the issue of surrendering the liberated territories to
Azerbaijan, G. Sahakian noted that in general, no Armenian would like
to give his historical land to others. He assured those present that
today the issue of territories’ surrender is not on the negotiations
table. In his words, this issue should be addressed only after the
status of Karabakh is clarified. "First of all it is necessary to
determine the status of Nagorno Karabakh because all the other issues
are derivatives of it," he said.

G. Sahakian advised the opposition forces that instead of demanding
the president’s resignation, they should adopt with the authorities
a common position on the Karabakh problem so that the international
community could see how united the Armenians are. According
to G. Sahakian, the existence of two different opinions among
the political forces, in particular, the members of the Armenian
National Congress, gives the outside world an occasion to assume
that the Armenian side does not exclude the possibility of making
unilateral concessions. In his words, according to the first opinion,
Karabakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan, while the second opinion is
that nevertheless, such a thing is possible, and in this case Armenia
would allegedly have a quiet life.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress