HKK speaker: “Why shouldn’t he have gone to Astana?”
"Why shouldn't he have gone?" Mr. Sharmazanov told "A1+" today. Wasn't Serzh Sargsyan under pressure after the visits of the Chief of Staff of the Russian President and the EU Special Representative in the South Caucasus? In response, Sharmazanov said: "There is always pressure in the negotiations process and neither the first nor the second president has denied that. Russia is Armenia's strategic partner and the presidents of both countries recently discussed the development of economic relations. The visit of the Russian President's chief of staff to Armenia didn't come as a surprise and the same goes for Semnebi."
As far as the Serzh Sargsyan-Ilham Aliyev meeting in Astana is concerned, Sharmazanov says it is too early to talk about the results. "If Azerbaijan is going to lead a destructive policy as it has done in the past, there cannot be any progress. The conflict cannot move to the final stage since the 4 UN resolutions clearly state that the conflicting sides are Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh and the conflict can't be solved without Nagorno-Karabakh."
Edward Sharmazanov is rest assured that the confidential documents released on "Wikileaks" will put Ilham Aliyev in a more difficult situation in terms of the negotiations. "The official Baku has already denied that Aliyev said such things during his meeting with US officials, while the official Washington has not denied the existence of those documents and has simply regretted that they have turned into a topic for public discourse."
Do you exclude the release of conversations between Armenian authorities and those of other countries that may come as a surprise to Armenians? In response, Sharmazanov said: "I never make predictions."
