A practical joke
Former Foreign Minister, ex-political prisoner Alexander Arzumanyan held his first press conference since his release.
Arzumanyan is concerned about Azerbaijan's recent statements and the silence of the Armenian side.
The OSCE Minsk Group has been around for the past 17 years; however, Arzumanyan takes note of the fact that only in the past couple of months have the Co-Chairs begun to not visit Stepanakert due to "bad" weather.
He doesn't expect any progress from the Aliev-Sargsyan meeting to be held on July 17 in Moscow. Arzumanyan also doesn't take the statement made by Russian Co-Chair Yuri Merzlyakov seriously according to which Aliev finally stated that citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh have the right to live safely.
"The people of Karabakh ensured their security by demanding a ceasefire from Azerbaijan in 1994. If Aliev has approved the fact that the Karabakh people's security for the past 15 years and that is inspiring Merzlyakov now, then I see serious problems with the quality of Merzlyakov's work," said Mr.Arzumanyan to "A1+".
The former Foreign Minister also doesn't believe that Turkish-Armenian relations truly exist as such.
"It's a big practical joke."
As for the "roadmap" signed by the Armenian and Turkish authorities on April 23, Arzumanyan said:
"At that moment it was to the benefit of Turkey to create an illusion that Turkish-Armenian relations do exist in order for Obama not to pronounce the word "genocide" on April 24. Turkey fulfilled its mission."
Arzumanyan doesn't accept the Armenian authorities' statements according to which they are trying to develop Turkish-Armenian relations without preconditions. Turkey is bringing forth its own preconditions and the Armenian authorities are giving way to them.
"The current authorities are so weak that they will take any step just to ensure their legitimacy."
