www.aravot.am continues to talk about what has been done in the past 5 years with regard to different points of President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan’s election program. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement was the primary point in that program. In particular, the President of the Republic of Armenia promised that the conflict settlement would be based on the following principles, “The Artsakh people’s right to self-determination should be internationally recognized, and conditions should be created for its implementation, one should ensure the security of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s population and borders, the Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic should have a common border.”
Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan thinks that the Armenian foreign-policy has made progress regarding this issue. The political scientist said during a conversation with www.aravot.am: “The political positions of Artsakh have been strengthened in the past few years. It is related to recognizing self-proclaimed states like Kosovo, Palestine, Ossetia and Abkhazia. On the other hand, the situation plays a big role in the negotiation process. The stalemate reached by the parties in the negotiation process shows the need for either changing the format and involving Artsakh or just accepting the results of the war and continuing the policy given that reality. Otherwise, there is a great danger of war. That some political scientists and experts have concluded that the issue of Artsakh’s recognition should be raised, which is also expressed by various countries’ legislative bodies, such as Australia and several states of the US, lets one conclude that Artsakh, as a political entity, has strengthened its positions with regard to recognition.”
Zoya Tadevosyan, a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), thinks the opposite: “There is no progress; moreover, the forces of the international community that were supposed to solve the issue have been doing nothing for the past eighteen months to two years. It means the issue has reached a stalemate. I am convinced that the Armenian side’s indecisiveness and lack of scrutiny and consistency with regard to the issue are to blame for that.” In response to an observation of the political scientist that the other countries’ response to the call for recognizing Artsakh testifies to the progress, Ms. Tadevosyan said: “So we think that others’ response is our victory. And when we suffer losses we shift the blame on to the others. It is not the right approach, the right way. It would be better, if we explained our achievements by our own initiatives and losses by our own opportunism and ignorance.”
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
