Levon Ter-Petrossyan: "By Moscow declaration Nagorno-Karabakh will play no role in a negotiating process determining its fate"

"The Moscow Declaration should undoubtedly be considered as one of the most important stages of the Karabakh peace process", Levon Ter-Petrossyan, the first president of Armenia, head of the oppositional Armenian National Congress, said in his interview with "A1+" TV company.

He stressed that in the near future one should expect important events related to the fates of Karabakh and Armenian statehood, against the background of which domestic political problems are paled into insignificance. "And we are going to attentively follow the developments, assess the adequacy of the Armenian authorities' actions in the current situation and we'll try to either prevent or minimize the threats to the Armenian party's interests. The Declaration signed in Moscow on November 2 should be considered as one of the most important stages of the peace process", Ter-Petrossyan stressed.

He disagreed with the opinion that the Declaration has a formal character and is deprived of specific content. According to Ter-Petrossyan, only those who are unaware of the Karabakh peace process nuances may have such wrong impression. However, experts qualify this Declaration as quite "eloquent" as some principles and specific moments are determined in it. One should keep in mind that this document is only the tip of an iceberg, something more essential in concealed under it, and it is not difficult to guess its content, says Ter-Petrossyan.

In this connection, he noted that, firstly, the first item of the Declaration contains formulation which can't help causing concern. According to the first item, "the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be settled on the basis of standards and principles of the international law, as well as decisions and documents adopted within these frames". Ter-Petrossyan is concerned not so much for the reference of norms and principles of the international law as of decisions and documents adopted on their basis. The Declaration undoubtedly means resolution 62/243 of UN GA and resolution 1614 of PACE - both recognizing the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and demanding that the Armenian armed forces be immediately withdrawn from the Azerbaijani territory near Nagorno-Karabakh.

Second, the 2nd point of the Moscow Declaration clearly says that the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be based on the Madrid proposal made by the OSCE Minsk Group Nov 29 2007. This proposal combines two principles of the international law: territorial integrity and nation's self-determination.

Third, the 4th point of the declaration says that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved through direct dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia - this is a new format and a de facto end to the decision of the OSCE Budapest Summit of 1994 recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as the third party to the conflict. This means that Nagorno-Karabakh will play no role in a negotiating process determining its fate.

Fourth, the most important result of the Moscow Declaration is that the two conflicting parties, Armenia and Azerbaijan, have given their consent to the Madrid proposal. The problem is that the previous proposals of the OSCE MG were rejected by the conflicting parties and removed from the agenda. The Moscow Declaration has marked the beginning of the final stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Ter-Petrossyan also added that Russia's initiative on signing of this Declaration does not at all contradict his idea that the West will play the decisive role in the Karabakh conflict settlement. Ter-Petrossyan said the Moscow meeting is crucial, nevertheless it is just the beginning of the settlement process. At present this process continues in Europe and will probably end in December in the USA. That is to say, despite the fact that Russia initiated settlement, nevertheless the West will put full stop. Sargsyan as well as Aliyev took part in the Moscow meeting if not forcefully but evidently with unhidden displeasure. And finally stemming from these ideas they will prefer mediation of the West. As for the role of the OSCE Minsk Group, the more the necessity of continuation of the OSCE MG activity is emphasized and more complements sound in its address it is becoming more suspicious there are disagreements within it, Armenian first president Levon Ter-Petrossyan said.

/ArmInfo/