Bako Sahakyan’s re-election as the interim president of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) stemmed from real challenges and hazards which the country perceived, says a Yerevan-based political analyst.

Alexander Iskandaryan dismisses the concerns that the February 19 voting by the country’s top legislative body may meet the international community’s criticism as a “deviation from democratic standards”.

“Artsakh never chooses living standards in anticipation of winning or failing to win anyone’s sympathy. That’s a process linked to domestic issues, which have taken a different course over the recent years,” he told Tert.am.  

Artsakh no longer relies the international community’s support, or assistance in its future recognition based on the democratic progress, Iskandaryan added.

“All now understand that nobody is going to resolve the problem instead of Karabakh,” he noted.  

Highlighting the existing hazards in the country, Iskandaryan also stressed the importance of consolidation as a possible way towards facilitating future decision-making.

He also underlined the country’s incomparably high democratic progress as opposed to Azerbaijan. “Karabakh cannot possibly be compared with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is not Transcaucasus; it is Middle East with all its oil resources,” he noted.

 Commenting on the situation along the country's borders, Iskandaryan ruled out any connection between the repeated frontline tensions and the electoral processes. “What happens along the Line of Contact is an Azerbaijani decision which wasn’t absolutely adopted today or even yesterday. Azerbaijan avoids full-scale [military] actions but doesn’t consider negotiations as a possibility of a peaceful settlement either. Hence, under the circumstances, this situation is expected to continue,” he added.