Armenia's Whole Potential Serves for Karabakh Conflict Settlement

PanARMENIAN.Net - "The first and the most important factor we gain from the current situation is that Armenia can defend the interests of the Armenian party with greater efficiency. The status is extremely important during the talks and it's much easier to neglect the interests of an unrecognized state than of a recognized one," Armenian President Robert Kocharian stated in an interview with the leading Armenian and Nagorno Karabakh TV Channels. In his words, the status issue is included in the agenda. "Presenting the Armenian party and being responsible for the negotiations I have the possibility to present the Karabakh issue during all the visits and meetings I hold. The same concerns the Armenian Foreign Minister. I suppose no one doubts that the level and frequency of the contacts of the Armenian President and FM can hardly be compared to the level and frequency of the contacts of the NKR President and FM. For many years we have had the possibility to present the Karabakh problem. This is a big advantage," the Armenian President said.



"Such engagement of the Armenian President in the process certainly raises Armenia's responsibility for the NKR to a high level. As a matter of fact, Armenia's whole potential - diplomacy, economy and defense - serves for the settlement of the conflict. This is a serious argument. These three circumstances showed that Armenia's engagement in the process proved efficient for receiving the proposals that can really become a basis for the negotiations. Otherwise you could say Armenia agrees with the variant of settlement to be supported by Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh. It was done in due time but then we received proposals that were doomed to refusal from the very beginning," Kocharian said.



The RA President considers that at the current stage "we should work at Karabakh's engagement in the negotiations process. Certainly if the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh sat at the bargaining table it would be the best variant. At that Nagorno Karabakh should be presented by its legal power but not representatives of its Armenian or Azeri communities as it was proposed in 1990-ies. That would be the worst scenario. We should try to engage Karabakh in the process but without weakening Armenia's role. Otherwise we will suffer great losses. "People of Karabakh can worry only if the Armenian President starts avoiding the responsibility and assumes the role of an assisting figure, since this would mean that the Armenian President either doesn't believe in the successful outcome of the negotiations or isn't strong enough for holding the process. Some statements that can be heard recently prove one thing - either their authors have no idea of the above mentioned nuances or they try to derive some benefit, although it's not the case for looking for benefit at all," Kocharian said.