“They’re doing whatever they want”
Former NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs Arman Melikyan, to put it mildly, is not too pleased with the Armenian delegation's decision to boycott the activities of the PACE Subcommittee on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"Since Armenia doesn't have its own foreign policy, everyone is doing whatever he wants and that is presented as a major diplomatic success and foresightedness. In general, a boycott, or any drastic action goes to show that things were worse and led to a demarche," Mr. Melikyan today told "A1+".
Touching upon the part of former RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian's speech according to which the sides have never simultaneously announced that it is necessary to sign a document, Mr. Melikyan said:
"Both sides have always said there is a need to sign some document. As to how they envisioned that document, that is a different story."
Arman Melikyan assured that it is not that the peoples of Armenia and Karabakh are not aware of what the sides are negotiating, but that this has been the case during the terms of all Armenian presidents.
He reminded that the people of Armenia also weren't aware of the Madrid Principles. Arman Melikyan doesn't accept Vardan Oskanian's statement that the installation of peacekeeping forces is secondary in the negotiations for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.
"There are no secondary issues. When we talk about peacekeepers, we are also talking about dislocating Armenian military forces from concrete territories. I believe that the process of negotiations was defective for the Armenian side to begin with. Armenia is not making any efforts to raise certain issues, particularly the issues of half a million Azerbaijani-Armenian refugees."
According to Melikyan, those flaws present Armenia as an aggressor in the process. Arman Melikyan doesn't believe the rumors that Armenia and Azerbaijan have come to terms on the issues of principle. "There can't be any agreement on those issues."
Melikyan also doesn't rule out Armenia's concessions when it comes to certain issues, but he is sure that that won't be the document to be signed in Kazan. "If the Armenian authorities truly intend to hand over territories, the people of Armenia must know about that."
Melikyan says the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will not be resolved within a year. According to him, processes such as Russian-U.S. relations and their interests in Central Asia may have an impact on the NK conflict resolution.
