KOCHARYAN’S KARABAKH ORIGIN DISTURBED
/meliqyan
06:31 pm | March 23, 2010
Former NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs Arman Melikyan is certain
that Serzh Sargsyan’s call to Azerbaijan to sign an agreement on no
application of force will not have any impact on the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process.
"Azerbaijan has already rejected the proposal and there is no
realpolitik there. The Armenian side is already being too friendly
by expressing willingness to hand territories and receiving Azeri
refugees. In other words, Armenia is in a losing position in foreign
politics," Melikyan told "A1+".
He reminded that the idea of signing an agreement on no application of
force had been stated several times by former Russian Co-Chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov. "The repetition of this thesis
by the Armenian authorities goes to show that Armenia doesn’t have
its own vision of the conflict settlement. This is the major issue."
According to Arman Melikyan, what Serzh Sargsyan is doing today is the
continuation of the policies of Robert Kocharyan and Vardan Oskanyan.
"Serzh Sargsyan didn’t know what kind of situation he was going to
be in and that’s a different story."
He agrees with former RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan that
the state of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was more extenuating in
1998 than it is now. "Whereas the foundation for change of power in
1998 was the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, now we have the issue of the
inter-political crisis as well. Today we must be able to confront these
two largest challenges. If we don’t come to a consensus on a number
of issues relating to domestic policy, we will be doomed to failure."
Touching upon the statements by representatives of international
organizations according to which Nagorno-Karabakh was left out
of the peace process thanks to Robert Kocharyan who found it
appropriate to represent Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in the
talks and what Serzh Sargsyan is doing today, Arman Melikyan said:
"Of course, representatives of international organizations will use
our errors to pursue their interests. I think Kocharyan’s origin of
Karabakh disturbed the process more because he started representing
Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiations. This process of an inertial
character also engaged Serzh Sargsyan."
The former NKR Foreign Minister finds that Serzh Sargsyan further
complicated the state of the Armenian side. "He further complicated
the issue with his nonsensical Turkey-Armenia Protocols. If the logic
of the talks doesn’t change, the Armenian side will face inevitable
handover of territories. The Armenian authorities are obliged to
include all issues concerning Armenia in the talks, including the
integration of half a million Azerbaijani Armenians and the Azerbaijani
aggression in the international arena, etc."
Arman Melikyan agrees that the Turkish-Armenian relations and the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have gotten so mixed up that it is hard to
say the precondition of what is.
Melikyan doesn’t exclude that the sides will soon be imposed to
sign a document on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but he is sure
of that. "I am more than sure that when the moment comes, even this
kind of government will find the strength inside and resign. I don’t
consider anyone a traitor in this country. They can be unintelligent,
unprofessional, but not a traitor. We simply have to lay the necessary
foundations for a new government starting today."