VAHRAM ATANESYAN CAN’T BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

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President of the international relations committee of the Nagorno-Karbakh Republic National Assembly Vahram Atenesyan stated recently in Yerevan that until 1997, Nagorno-Karabakh has not been a complete member of the negotiations and it is unacceptable for Nagorno-Karabakh to become a member with the same status today.

“Vahram Atanesyan doesn’t know what he is talking about. He can not be taken seriously He doesn’t even know that after the war in 1994, during the Moscow talks in the framework of the “Great Political Treaty”, Nagorno-Karabakh was participating as a side and I was the one representing Nagorno-Karabakh. Either Vahram Atanesyan is completely clueless, or he is trying to alleviate the Meindorf declaration,” said today former adviser of former Nagorno-Karabakh president, politician, and former NKR representative in the NKR talks Manvel Sargsyan.

Sargsyan doesn’t consider it by chance that Aliev evaluated that declaration as a great victory. “Nowadays, nobody says that there is an issue in the former territory of Azerbaijan. They say that there are some people living in the mountains that must live safely; meanwhile, for the past 15 years, we have been saying that there is a subject the status of which is the essence of the talks. How can Vahram Atanesyan understand all this?”

The person who once participated in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks and represented the Karabakh side doesn’t understand the presentation of the Meindorf declaration as Armenia’s victory.

“The important thing is not the content of the declaration, but the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh did not participate in the signing.”

What do you have to say about the statement made by OSCE Minsk Group co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov according to which the people of Nagorno-Karabakh know about the peace talks and that he can’t say that the NKR population is 100% against handing over the lands? What can serve as a foundation for such a statement? In response Manvel Sargsyan said:

“Merzlyakov met with the political elite of NKR. Perhaps Merzlyakov’s statement was substantiated.”

“I don’t pay attention to the behind-the-scenes talks on Nagorno-Karabakh. If the administration doesn’t give clear responses to the question on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, gatherS somewhere and holdS talks, then that is dangerous. If there were no danger, the administration would speak more clearly,” says the politician.

According to Manvel Sargsyan, the administration’s attitude and statements remind only one thing:

“They are ready to hand over the lands. That is why people are concerned, but I can’t say whether the administrations of both sides will come to a final agreement or not,.”

In any case, the politician believes that there has been one essential change in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“That was the November 2 Meindorf treaty. Before the signing of the treaty, the co-chairs made statements according to the misinterpretation of the issue of NKR status; they said clearly that the issue of people’s security is above everything else, that it is necessary to create an international system, substitute the current security system and then talk about a referendum. For years, the essence of the NKR talks has been the issue concerning NKR status and it was clearly stated that the status issue must be solved through peace talks. Thus, a big change has been made, but there is no response from the administration.”

As for Serzh Sargsyan’s recent visit to Stepanakert where NKR authorities backed down the protest of a couple of hundred people against the handover of liberated lands, Manvel Sargsyan said:

“It is the same in Yerevan and Stepanakert. This goes to show that danger is lurking.”