“There will be changes in Armenia’s domestic political life in connection with the parliamentary elections on April 2,” said Director of the “Caucasus” Institute, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan today at the “Tesaket” club. In his opinion, the elections will not be a particularly interesting event because the outcome is predetermined. According to him, an interesting situation is expected after the elections when a new political system – parliamentary – will be established in the country. “In that period, two different political systems are intertwined: there will be a president who is elected by the old Constitution and there will be a parliament which is elected by the new Constitution.”
Referring to the Karabakh conflict settlement process, Mr. Iskandaryan noted that there will be no changes in the negotiation process, “The OSCE Minsk Group has been engaged not in the attempts of the conflict settlement for several years, it does not have the chance but in the attempts of reducing the violence or is trying to keep the violence within certain limits, these activities will be ongoing.” The political scientist does not think there will be large-scale hostilities, “There will be large-scale escalations but not war.”
To the question of how the policy led by US President Trump will change the peace process, Al. Iskandaryan replied that the international community attention towards the Caucasus is falling which could affect the Karabakh conflict, the falling the attention give Azerbaijan a certain freedom. To the question of how the possible closure of the OSCE office in Armenia will affect the RA-Azerbaijani relations, Mr. Iskandaryan replied, “I do not know how the problem will be resolved but I know as it was declared that only one country was against the operation of this office in Armenia. We guess which country we are talking about. Hopefully, the problem will be resolved. But I say, there will be no revolution if the office is closed.”
