VAZGEN MANUKIAN CONVINCED THAT KOCHARIAN WILL NOT SIGN DOCUMENT PROPOSED BY CO-CHAIRS
YEREVAN, JULY 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Armenian President
will not sign under the Nagorno Karabakh settlement variant proposed
lately. RA MP Vazgen Manukian, Chairman of the National Democratic
Union, said at the July 18 press conference. "I treat the circumstance
of R.Kocharian’s being a President very negatively but inwardly I am
convinced that he will not take such a step," the speaker said.
In Manukian’s opinion, Kocharian from the very start made a mistake
in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement, declaring in his conversations to
the mediators that if they convince him that some proposed variant of
settlement is beneficial to Armenians, he in his turn will convince
Armenia and Karabakh. According to the speaker, "Kocharian assumed
a heavier burden than he was to" and this approach became the reason
of NKR’s being ousted of the negotiations process. But he considered
improbable that they have already "convinced" Kocharian.
According to the NDU Chairman, no other great ommissions on Nagorno
Karabakh issue have been committed in the Armenian foreign policy. It
is a different matter that the Armenian diplomacy did not manage
to ensure the announced complementary policy and the foreign policy
is one-sided.
V.Manukian said that if R.Kocharian signed under this variant,
it would be necessary to demand his resignation. According to him,
the forces supporting Kocharian organized a coup in Armenia (he means
the power shift of 1998: NT), as they were against the stage-by-stage
variant of Nagorno Karabakh settlement: "If they sign, why was this
coup done and what was the purpose of this marasmus of 8 years?"