Sergey Markedonov: Karabakh to serve as example for changing supreme power in civilized way

PanARMENIAN.Net - "Like at the beginning of 1990s, today Karabakh continues to remain as a peculiar lighthouse for Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora. Observing the process how various presidential candidates in Karabakh are conducting pithy competitive struggle, Yerevan will be quite limited in actions on prolonging the current President's power. It will be necessary to comply with the figure of freedom-loving protector of Karabakh. Being as important nationals symbol for Armenia, Karabakh will serve as an example for changing the supreme power of the country in civilized way. All leading political forces of Armenia will appeal to it," head of the department of international relations at the Institute of Political and Military Studies Sergey Markedonov writes in Prognosis.Ru.



According to him, the situation within NKR remains the number one problem for Azerbaijan. The situation of "mild sultanate" in the eyes of the world community weakens Baku's position from the point of view to return Karabakh under Azerbaijan's jurisdiction. "The democratic standards in unrecognized Karabakh are higher than in internationally recognized Azerbaijan. Karabakh will also pose lots of inconvenient questions in front of the world community. Conceptions on democratization as an important precondition for the processes to peacefully resolve ethnic-political conflicts serves as an axiom for the United States, Europe, as well as influential international organizations (UN, OSCE). In reality this thesis does not work always. There is not a single presidential candidate in NKR, who would not support democratic principles. Just the opposite, Karabakh people accept democracy not as an abstract value, but as an effective mechanism of international legitimization," the Russian expert underlined.



Sergey Markedonov is also sure that during the 2005 parliamentarian elections in NKR the Kosovo principle -first democratization and then self-determination, was declared as one of the basic demands towards the policy of Karabakh and politicians of Karabakh. "In Karabakh the Balkan example became not only a subject of comprehension, but also of copying. This comes to prove that the Karabakh elite is seeking to distance itself from summits "parallel to CIS", equally from leaders of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdnestria, plus diversification of his foreign policy. The logic of Karabakh leadership is clear: NKR needs to create a much bigger resonance around the presidential elections. In some extent the Nagorno Karabakh Republic becomes a legislator of democratic fashion among unrecognized republics. Thus, the goal of the Karabakh elite was to present their republic as a peculiar leader of other de facto states, showing its capability, including in diplomatic sphere. Thus, presidential campaign in NKR will also become a peculiar political lesson to "parallel CIS"" Markedonov says.