Armen Rustamyan: peace enforcement process started in Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement

PanARMENIAN.Net - Representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Supreme Body Armen Rustamyan said he has no any special expectations from the October 27 meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents in Astrakhan. “As long as Azerbaijan displays a destructive stance in negotiations, one should not expect a progress in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,” Rustamyan told a press conference in Yerevan.

Rustamyan considers recognition of the NRK people’s right to self-determination and provision of Artsakh population’s security to be a display of Azerbaijan’s constructive stance.

“There is another important problem in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement: the parties to the conflict have hailed the basic principles of the conflict settlement offered by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs,” he said, adding that the principles run counter to the two referendums held in NKR.

Rustamyan noted that, from the other side, there are two joint statements of the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group's Co-Chair countries, which have changed the situation in the conflict resolution. “The statements suggest that the Karabakh conflict settlement has entered a public stage, and a peace enforcement process has already started,” said Rustamyan.

He added that if the peace enforcement process is based on the Madrid principles, Armenia will lose much.

Rustamyan noted that mediators are likely to issue another strict statement on the conflict resolution after the upcoming meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents. “And the process of drafting a big peace agreement may be launched after it,” concluded Armen Rustamyan.