Meeting in St. Petersburg is Not Progress: Arman Melikyan

Hardly anything serious can be expected from the recent meeting of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian presidents in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh Arman Melikyan told Tert.am today.

"The worst thing is that the parties have agreed to continue to seek a solution to this issue in the context of the Madrid Principles," said Melikyan, as he referred to Serzh Sargsyan's and Ilham Aliyev's meeting attended by their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

Melikyan is sure that the settlement of the issue will remain hung in the air unless the logics of the talks is changed. In the form that they have been presented to the public, the Madrid Principles, according to him, do not comprise any solution.

"Here is what we should understand. Even if, from this view point, Armenia is obliged to continue the talks in the framework of Madrid Principles, I am sure that sooner or later that process will be suspended, it will bear not fruit and will be useless. The Madrid Principles do not have anything essential for Armenia and Karabakh," said Melikyan.

Further Melikyan said he did not share the widely-spread viewpoint among Armenian politologist that Mr Aliyev went to St. Petersburg under international pressure. According to him, it is just the contrary; it is Mr Aliyev who constantly attempts to exert pressure on Armenia, and who blackmails international community.