“Peace, even if it is ramshackle”
According to chairman of the NA committee on international relations Armen Rustamyan, yesterday's announcement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs goes to show that the documents are not fixing the situation. "It should be clearly said that Azerbaijan is to blame for what is taking place," Mr. Rustamyan told "A1+" today.
He says the Co-Chairs' concerns over the cease-fire violation are appropriate, but says the Co-Chairs are also to blame for this. "To this day, there has not been a fact showing that the Armenian side has violated any agreement. It's clear that Azerbaijan is always the one violating the cease-fire regime and it is very strange that the Co-Chairs don't address that during their meetings. We sign a document, but someone dies the next day. This means that these are simply meetings." However, he prefers to meet and adds: "We must maintain peace, even if it is dilapidated."
He views the lines of the Co-Chairs' announcement reading "the sides must strive for peace" as strange. "This is an incorrect formulation and is more in favor of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan can always say it is striving for peace, but it's not working out. They can change the logic of the process and move on to military operations. This should be clearly prevented and should be the Co-Chairs' first objective."
Rustamyan believes the Co-Chairs should also put an end to the anonymous announcements. "The Co-Chairs should clearly state who is violating the cease-fire regime. After all, we should be clear on whether we are moving toward a peaceful resolution or a war."
According to Armen Rustamyan, the Co-Chairs are not taking that step because they don't want to offend any side. "We can understand this approach when it comes to other issues, but there is no alternative to the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."
