ARAM SAFARYAN: ARMENIA WILL NEVER LEAVE NAGORNO-KARABAKH

news.am
Dec 4 2009
Armenia

15:28 / 12/04/2009Aram Safaryan, Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia
Party (PAP) parliamentary faction does not share the opinion that
the three principles of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
have for the first time been set in Athens – territorial integrity,
nations’ right to self-determination and non-use of force. "Such a
statement was first approved last December, at a sitting of the OSCE
Foreign Ministers’ Council. The Council’s statement confirmed that
the settlement must be based on the three fundamental principles of
the Helsinki final act. I think that this is evidence of positive
expectations within the OSCE – the OSCE mediators make a positive
appraisal of the negotiation process over the last year," he said.

Safaryan, however, is concerned over the fact that, on the one hand,
Azerbaijan puts its signature to the statement and welcomes the
atmosphere within the OSCE, but, on the other hand, keeps on making
bellicose statements thereby trying to convince the international
community that a military settlement of the conflict is quite real. "I
think the other signatories to the document should be concerned over
the fact even more than Armenia," Safaryan said.

In its turn, the Armenian Opposition political forces find the
principle of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is incorporated in the
statement, which implies self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh’s as
part of Azerbaijan. Responding to NEWS.am’s question concerning the
justifiability of this argument, Safaryan said that "it is entirely
impossible, as it is common knowledge that Nagorno-Karabakh is not
part of Azerbaijan."

"The question is whether Armenia and Azerbaijan will be able to come
to terms, which would be incorporated in international documents. I
disagree with the opinion that Armenia may, some day and under
pressure, agree to leave Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. It
is impossible. It is deception or self-deception," he said. In this
case, what do the Co-Chairs mean by Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity?

"They mean the territorial integrity that will suggest to Azerbaijan
that Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence has no alternative," Safaryan
said.