Armenia revises stance on Karabakh peace – political analyst

Armenia has changed its stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) peace process amid Azerbaijan's continuing policy of aggression, a political analyst said today, citing different motives behind the country's non-constructive conduct.

“There aren’t just one or two of them; there are scores of reasons motives inciting the Azerbaijani authorities to escalate the situation,” Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan told reporters in Yerevan.

Addressing President Serzh Sargsyan’s recent speech at the National Assembly, particularly, his remark on possible territorial concessions, he ruled out any controversial point in the statement. “By saying mutual concessions, we imply the exercise of Artsakh’s right to self-determination. The concept has been simply re-evaluated. While before the April [war], mutual concessions were just concessions for Armenia, now the official Yerevan no longer addresses the topic. And that's what makes them [Azerbaijanis] nervous.”

“Armenia cannot possibly agree to mutual concessions despite our repeated statements, as well as their statements that they are ready for that. There are no mechanisms potentially bringing those mutual concessions to life. Anyway, Armenia has clearly changed its stance in the negotiation [process], thereby attracting an aggressive reaction by the Azerbaijani authorities,” he noted.

Melik-Shahnazaryan described the president’s speech as a message questioning the Madrid Principles. “What the president said was that the Madrid Principles do really give rise to many questions. It is the official Yerevan’s first ever move to criticize the document, which definitely implies a change in the Armenian side’s positions. All the documents previously under discussion give way to many questions in Yerevan.”

“Understandably, after the April events, such changes could not be unexpected. The logic behind the negotiations has changed. Whether that occurred before or after April, the fact remains that we have a different situation now,” said the expert.