RUBEN HAKOBIAN: KARABAKH IS ALSO IN BASKET OF GAINING AZERBAIJAN’S FAVOR
Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2008
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The Declaration signed by the
Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia on November 2 should be
considered in the regional context, as re-establishment of Russia’s
dominating role. Ruben Hakobian, the Head of the Akunk Center for
Political Analyses, the former RA Consul in Saint Petersburg, expressed
such an opinion at the October 4 press conference. According to him,
Russia has been always protecting its national-state interests and if
necessary it will do it by both peaceful methods and by using military
force. R. Hakobian affirmed that if it is in Russia’s interests to
gain Azerbaijan’s favor, it will do that and has already started
doing. "Today Azerbaijan has a serious economic potential and serious
goals, Azerbaijan is necessary for Russia, and Karabakh is also in
the basket of gaining Azerbaijan’s favor," he said.
Touching upon Madrid principles of solving the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, R. Hakobian stated that an attempt to combine the principles
of nations’ self-determination and territorial integrity contradicting
each other was made in them. "It is an experiment, which can have both
good and bad consequences," he said adding that at present the most
important task of the RA authorities should be to involve Karabakh
in the negotiations process.