Armenia should clearly voice its national interests on international level
22.01.2010 18:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Russian President’s recent statement on Karabakh
conflict settlement and Armenian-Turkish normalization being separate
issues cannot be a guarantee that the two processes will not ever be
linked, ARFD parliamentary group member Artsvik Minasyan finds.

`The only guarantee for Armenia is to clearly voice its national
interests on international level,’ he told a joint news conference
with Republican MP Gagik Melikyan.

Agreeing with RF Premier’s statement, Mr. Melikyan noted for his part
that Turkey always attempts to link the two processes.

`The leaders of superpowers have reiterated several times that
Karabakh conflict can not bear any relationship to Armenian-Turkish
relations.’

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in 1988
as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the final
years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 to
1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh
and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of
Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of
NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

The Madrid principles contain the proposals put forward by the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs on the basic principles of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement. The document was presented to the Armenian and
Azerbaijani representatives at the OSCE summit in the Spanish capital
in November 2007.