SARKISIAN ACCUSED OF KARABAKH SURRENDER

Armenia Liberty
Dec 4 2009

President Serzh Sarkisian has consented to returning Nagorno-Karabakh
to Azerbaijan in exchange for international support for his
illegitimate rule, the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK)
said on Friday.

Levon Zurabian, the HAK’s central office coordinator, argued that
Armenia for the first time recognized territorial integrity as a
key principle of resolving the Karabakh conflict during this week’s
ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe.

"The most important international mechanism for ensuring
Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence can be deemed shattered," he told a
news conference. "Armenia has acknowledged that the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict must be resolved within the framework of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity."

Zurabian dismissed as "ridiculous" Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s
arguments that the Karabakh-related statements adopted by the OSCE
member states, including Azerbaijan, also cite the principle of
self-determination of peoples. He said Karabakh’s predominantly
Armenian population will only be allowed to determine the degree of
its autonomy within Azerbaijan.

"It turns out that Mr. Nalbandian doesn’t know that Azerbaijan has
agreed to that ever since the times of [the late President] Heydar
Aliyev," said Zurabian. "Azerbaijan has always been willing to solve
the conflict on the basis of the principle of self-determination, while
saying that the Karabakh people’s right to self-determination shall
be limited by the principle of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity."

Zurabian added that the Armenian authorities are trying to "deceive"
the population with their upbeat statements in order to conceal
their "evident defeat" in the Karabakh negotiating process. "Having
no popular support, they have to make deals with the international
community," he charged. "The international community has made some
overtures to Armenia’s leadership in return for this position adopted
by it."

Zurabian further dismissed government loyalists’ arguments that the
HAK’s top leader, former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, himself
expressed readiness to place Karabakh back under Azerbaijan in a
1992 interview with a Russian newspaper. He said the remark was
a diplomatic ploy aimed at changing the balance of forces in the
conflict zone which was unfavorable for the Armenian side at the time.

"During that period all statements by Ter-Petrosian were aimed at
ensuring a political and information cover for military operations,"
said Zurabian.