Topics of the week: Karabakh and visits of European and U.S. high-ranking officials to Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - According to Aram Safaryan, secretary of Prosperous Armenia parliamentary group, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s refusal to attend the informal summit of CIS leaders in Moscow as well as unwillingness of Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov to meet with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs appeared as an attempt to screen unreadiness to resolve the Karabakh problem peacefully. “Turkish and Azeri propaganda machines have united to work out a large-scale anti-Armenian policy. As a matter of fact, this policy aims to frustrate the ongoing Karabakh talks. The current stage of negotiations requires de jure recognition of Nagorno Karabakh, a move Azerbaijan is not ready to make. Armenia should be prepared for more violent propaganda attacks,” Mr. Safaryan said.

Meanwhile political scientist Sergei Minasyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter said that the resumption of hostilities in Karabakh will be fatal for British Petroleum (BP). “The catastrophe in Gulf of Mexico has resulted in huge losses. And if Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline’s operation is terminated, BP will be on the verge of bankruptcy. AIOC (Azerbaijani International Operating Company) shareholders, including BP, are the main lobbyists aiming to prevent hostilities in Karabakh. Baku is well aware of this situation, thus, Ilham Aliyev’s statements are mere words,” Minasyan said.

Former national security advisor to the first President of Armenia, Ashot Manucharyan, said a new war in Karabakh is possible theoretically but impossible in practice. “In response to proclamation of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Azeri authorities launched a racist war against the Armenian population in NKR and Azerbaijan. So, Baku should hold talks on territorial concessions not with Armenia but with Armenians expelled from Azerbaijan,” he said. “Both in Armenia and Azerbaijan the power is in the hands of several people. Such governing philosophy produced the following result: Baku threatens while Yerevan ignores the threats.”

ARF Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary group refrained from participation in the meeting between RA parliamentary groups and PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu, citing the latter’s refusal to visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

Heritage Party and its parliamentary group also issued a statement labeling Cavusoglu's decision to not visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial as “a behavior that is unbecoming of the head of this prestigious European organization.”

The delegation led by the PACE President was received by Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyanm who said that this visit “will promote strengthening of PACE–RA NA relations.”

Armenian Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan also met with the delegation to discuss challenges faced by Armenia and the region in human rights protection field.

RPA parliamentary group secretary Eduard Sharmazanov stated that reasons behind President Medvedev’s visit to Turkey are understandable, with Russia pursuing certain interests in the region. Armenia should not have concerns over Russian President’s visit to Turkey. With both countries vying for regional influence, Russia will not allow for Turkey’s increased influence in South Caucasus, according to him.

Member of Heritage parliamentary group Larisa Alaverdyan said that signing the first document on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Armenia accepted that NKR is a part of Azerbaijan. “Due to this blunder, NKR was mentioned a part of Azerbaijan in all other documents, including the Bishkek ceasefire agreement, though it records Arstakh as a party to conflict. Armenia provoked exclusion of NKR from talks,” Mrs. Alaverdyan told reporters on May 12.

Leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan is confident that the region is witnessing processes which will inevitably affect both Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. He also emphasized that Armenia should renounce Madrid Principles, which envisage surrender of territories and conduction of a referendum. “The Madrid Document is the worst of all those offered before,” he said.

Armenian National Congress coordinator Levon Zurabyan told journalists that the ANC representatives slammed the work of PACE monitoring committee and that of Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights during a meeting with PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Armenian President met with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Tina S. Kaidanow, who arrived in Yerevan on May 14. The Armenian President thanked the U.S. administration for the efforts aimed at establishment of peace and stability in the South Caucasus.