Agence France Presse — English
February 15, 2008 Friday 1:53 AM GMT
Armenian poll frontrunner says peace with Azerbaijan close
by Michael Mainville
YEREVAN, Feb 15 2008
Armenia is close to reaching a peace deal with arch-foe Azerbaijan
and is keen to re-establish diplomatic ties with neighbouring Turkey,
said the man tipped to win next week’s presidential election.
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian spoke to AFP as opinion polls
suggested that he enjoyed a substantial lead ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Serious progress had been made in talks with Azerbaijan over the
rebel Azerbaijani region of Nagorny Karabakh, he said.
The two countries remain officially at war over Karabakh, a mostly
ethnic Armenian enclave that broke away from Azerbaijani control
during a war in the early 1990s.
In an interview this week in his plush office overlooking Yerevan’s
central Republic Square, Sarkisian said he agreed with international
mediators who said "very few things remain unresolved around the
issue of Nagorny Karabakh."
Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey cut diplomatic ties and sealed their
borders with Armenia over its support for the separatists. Ankara has
also been deeply angered by Yerevan’s efforts to have mass killings
of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire internationally recognized as
genocide.
Sarkisian said Armenia remained ready to re-establish ties with
Turkey at any time and blamed Ankara for the impasse.
"The ball is in the Turks’ court. We are ready to establish
diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions. It is the
Turks who are making preconditions," he said. "We cannot meet the
demand of the Turks when they ask us to join them in denying the
Armenian genocide."
Sarkisian predicted he would win Tuesday’s presidential election with
more than 50 percent of the vote, avoiding a potentially risky
second-round run-off. He dismissed allegations that the authorities
were rigging the vote to ensure his victory.
"Have you ever seen a country where the opposition does not come up
with allegations against the authorities, especially during the time
of elections?" he said. "Ninety-nine percent of these allegations
have nothing to do with reality."
Sarkisian, 53, is facing eight opponents in the race, including
former president Levon Ter-Petrosian and former parliamentary speaker
Artur Baghdasarian.
With President Robert Kocharian barred from running for a third
five-year term, the election marks the first time an incumbent is not
in a presidential race since the tiny mountainous country gained its
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Sarkisian’s opponents have warned they will call supporters to the
streets if they believe the vote was rigged, but Sarkisian said he
had little fear of post-election unrest.
"I’m sure that nothing serious will take place," he said. "Over the
last 15 years our law-enforcement bodies have been strengthened and
can handle any tasks put before them."
Kocharian tapped Sarkisian as his successor after the prime
minister’s Republican Party swept parliamentary elections in May.
The two are longtime allies — both are from Karabakh — and
Sarkisian is widely seen as a hawk in relations with Azerbaijan and
Turkey.
A former head of the separatist army, Sarkisian held key positions in
the Armenian government before becoming prime minister, including as
chief of the interior and defence ministries.
If elected he planned to continue in Kocharian’s footsteps, he said.
"Kocharian’s policy is very simple — to make economic growth
sustainable, to become a member of the European family of nations, to
normalise relations with our neighbours and to peacefully resolve the
problem of Nagorny Karabakh. Do you see anything bad in this?" he
said.