“New packing” of the NKR issue

  What results will the EU initiatives produce?

 French Minister of Foreign Affairs Alain Juppe left for Moscow yesterday to meet with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov. Before his visit, the head of the French Foreign Ministry gave an interview to “Echo of Moscow” radio station on the same day, in which he also talked about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. According to Radio Liberty, in response to the “Echo of Moscow” question, “According to Dmitry Medvedev, in Kazan the meeting of the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russa was a failure. Is the Nagorno-Karabakh issue eternal and has no resolution?” Alain Juppe said, “I highly assess the efforts made by the president of Russia in Sochi and Kazan; it is a pity, of course, that no result was achieved, however, as I know new proposals will be made to achieve some agreement on that issue.” Yesterday during a conversation with “Aravot” the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that they did not comment on Juppe’s statement. And leader of the RPA parliamentary faction Galust Sahakyan, in response to “Aravot’s” question what new proposals one can talk about, said, “The public and we do not know yet, what concrete proposals are the old ones to think about new ones?” To the confusion, were you not aware of the Madrid principles, Galust Sahakyan responded, “The co-chairs, the presidents of the countries and to some extent, the ministers of foreign affairs were aware of the Madrid principles.” We remarked that those principles have been made public many times. The leader of the RPA faction responded, “Tomorrow one can initiate making public his own principles with the logic he likes. Those principles have not been officially made public.” As for the new proposals he warns, “It is not that the new proposals are made and imposed on us. We have our own viewpoint; the main factor is the principle of self-determination of nations that is the most powerful argument for us, it is a norm of international law and we see the issue resolution in this scope.” By the way, before the Kazan meeting, in the positive atmosphere that was created some circles started to say that there was no point in pinning one’s hopes on that meeting, advising to give more importance to the developments that would take place after that. Director of the YSU European studies center Artur Ghazinyan said during a conversation with “Aravot” on the matter that the status quo around the Karabakh conflict would change and the issue would be resolved under the auspices of the European Union. Does this mean that the pressure on the sides will increase? Galust Sahakyan ruled out any pressure on the sides, “If it even takes place, it is not fair for us.”

Can one suggest that at the September summit, they will make the sides “the new offers” voiced by Alain Juppe? Will the dominant role of Russia in the NKR issue resolution decline, since the international community got quite disappointed in Medvedev during the past period. Head of “The Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation” Stepan Grigoryan in response to “Aravot’s” questions, said that the Kazan meeting showed once again that Russia’s role is really big in the conflict settlement issue, but not so much as to be able to make Armenia and Azerbaijan sign some document. Under these conditions, according to the political scientist, it is obvious that others will gradually take the lead in the conflict settlement; there will be other initiatives, “However, it does not mean that the Minsk Group will lose its leading role. The Minsk Group format and Russia’s role will to some extent be preserved. I think that the initiative of the EU will be in the scope of the resolution passed in the European Parliament in April, according to which the NKR “de-facto” elected authorities will be involved in some projects including “Eastern Partnership”. In this regard not only France, but also other European states and even the European Commission will show initiative.”