KIRO MANOYAN: IF AZERBAIJAN CONTINUES TO ACT FROM POSITIONS OF FORCE, ARMENIA WILL RECOGNIZE INDEPENDENCE OF NKR
Noyan Tapan
Oct 20, 2008
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. There will be no considerable
progress in negotiations on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict until the
new U.S. president’s assuming his post in January 2009, the Head of
the ARF’s Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) and Political Affairs Office Kiro
Manoyan expressed an opinion at the October 20 press conference. "We
must tell the international community that if Azerbaijan continues
to act from the positions of force, Armenia will recognize the
independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic," he declared.
Responding to the question about why at the time the ARF did not
support "Heritage" party’s legislative initiative on recongnizing the
NKR’s independence. K. Manoyan stated: "The recognition of Artsakh’s
independence should proceed from the process of negotiations rather
than the interests of some political force or another."
Confirming that the ARF is discontented with Serzh Sargsyan’s policy
on the NKR problem, K. Manoyan pointed out that in 1998 they were much
more displeased with the version that the first Armenian president
Levon Ter-Petrosian had proposed regarding the solution of the
Karabakh problem.
According to ARF’s representative, there was progress in negotiations
only after the resignation of L. Ter-Petrosian. In the words of
K. Manoyan, the major achievement of the Armenian side in 1998-2008 was
that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs started excluding the possibility
that Karabakh will again make part of Azerbaijan.