After the victory in the first war, Armenia’s positions in negotiations were based on our victories, that is, the buffer zone around Nagorno-Karabakh, the 7 regions, the combat-ready army of Armenia and the fact that Armenia is the guarantor of security of Nagorno-Karabakh. This is what second President of Armenia, leader of the opposition “Armenia” Alliance Robert Kocharyan declared at the rally held in Yerevan today.
“There was a common border between Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) that stretched from Vardenis to Araks River. This gave Armenia strength during the negotiations. We were achieving diplomatic victories step-by-step until one person decided to start the negotiations from scratch and zero all our victories,” Kocharyan emphasized.
Talking about the negotiations, he said negotiations are based on mutual concessions and added that there can’t be talks about mutual concessions now. Kocharyan also stressed the hidden threats of demarcation.
“There are talks about demarcation along the length of Syunik Province. What are the dangers? Demarcations means Armenia will directly or indirectly, but de facto recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and record the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave within Azerbaijan. This will mean the end of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This is the reality. After demarcation, Azerbaijan will be granted the lawful right to set up a border checkpoint on the road linking Armenia to Artsakh and control movement, just like it did on the Goris-Kapan motorway, and nobody can disturb Azerbaijan. So, the signing of a document on this, the start of the process that will eternalize capitulation and predetermine the status of Nagorno-Karabakh are ruled out,” Kocharyan said, adding that there is only one path to take to neutralize the risks, and that is to consider all the challenges related to status, demarcation, security and the Armenia-Artsakh corridor as a whole.