Vladimir Karapetyan, a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) central office, about theVilniusstatement and cooperation between ANC and the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP).
Yesterday during a meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council, the heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair country delegations, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State and Jean Leonetti, the French Minister for European Affairs, as well as Armenian and Azerbaijani Ministers of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mamedyarov made a joint statement, in which they reasserted the importance of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
They agreed to continue the negotiation process in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and improve the atmosphere, in order to reach the final settlement of the conflict. As the first step, they agreed to make additional effort to find the mechanism for investigating cases of violating ceasefire terms.
The heads of delegations also expressed regret that the sides of the conflict were not able to make decisive moves after the presidents’ statement inDeauville. The heads of delegations ruled out once again the possibility of settling the conflict militarily. The Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers expressed gratitude to the co-chair country leaders and readiness to meet again and continue the negotiation process under the auspices of the co-chairs.
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At “Aravot’s” request, Vladimir Karapetyan, a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) foreign relations committee, said commenting on the given statement,
– In my opinion, by this statement all the sides reacted to the situation, in which the process has found itself – it is the complete deadlock. Because there has been no meeting at the highest level since June and there is no arrangement to organize a meeting in the short-run. The tone of the statement testifies to the fact that there is no progress, no development in the process.
I have noticed one change that was made in the mediator’s last statement, i.e. it is underlined that the retention of the status quo is unacceptable. I think this is a victory for the Azerbaijani foreign policy that managed to get that position from the mediators and that is reflected in the statements of international organizations on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that have followed each other. I don’t see any other important points in that statement and I cannot imagine how it will influence the process that is in deadlock.
– How long may this deadlock situation last, especially providing the sides are entering the pre-election period?
– I think till the end of the election period. I hope that a legitimate government will be formed after the elections and the main obstacle in the way of stimulating the process will be eliminated. I mean, it must be clear to everybody that if the government is not legitimate, is not supported by the people, cannot guarantee progress in any issue, including solving issues facing the state. I think the understanding of that strengthens in the minds of the mediators, other colleagues and I hope the mediators and the legitimate government will take on eliminating the main obstacles in the way of country development during the upcoming election.
– Various representatives of the establishment don’t stop stating that they will do everything, in order that the upcoming election is really fair and transparent. How trustworthy are those assurances?
– Such statements were made before the previous election too that were accompanied by 10 deaths, hundreds of people with gunshot injuries and 150 prisoners of conscience. Today people who make those statements were appointed to their offices as a result of shedding the blood of protesters after the previous election and given that fact, one can assess the reliability of their statements.
– How possible is the cooperation between ANC and PAP, in your opinion?
– I think that Ter-Petrossian presented a serious political analysis to the society. The circumstances for tangible developments or developments in the framework of that analysis are clear and unless those circumstances are there, it is impossible to speak of any development.
– You mean Gagik Tsarukyan who is Robert Kocharyan’s ally, comrade-in-arms and partner and has been using unlawful methods during these past years, why do you think that he will sleep, wake up and decide to listen to Levon Ter-Petrossian and live by the law from then on?
– Those people will not necessarily live by the law after Levon Ter-Petrossian’s call. It would be better, if it was their inner conviction.
Robert Kocharyan was also Levon Ter-Petrossian’s ally, comrade-in-arms and partner. In 1996-95-94 all actions of Ter-Petrossian concerning theNagorno-KarabakhRepublic, in particular, concerning the defense of theNagorno-KarabakhRepublic, were accepted by Robert Kocharyan without reservations. However, who knew then that during Robert Kocharyan’s presidency the law-enforcers under his command would shoot at unarmed people, kill people.
NELLY GRIGORYAN
