Artsakh’s unification with Armenia ‘triumphant scenario’ to end long-lasting conflict - politician

The unification of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) with the Republic of Armenia would offer a real triumphant scenario to end the long-lasting land dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to Ara Hakobyan, a member of the National Agenda party.  

In an interview with Tert.am, the politician disagreed to the remarks that the OSCE Minsk Group’s recent statement - warning against a change in the negotiations format – conveyed absolutely no message or call to the conflicting parties.

“What was being discussed in the past couple of months was that our negotiations should focus on Artsakh’s possible engagement in the process to enable us to [initiate] trilateral negotiations – involving the sides and the OSCE mediators,” he said, considering the statement somewhat unexpected.

Hakobyan noted that the warnings against possible changes in the format were made also during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Brussels.  “Both [Foreign Affairs Commissioner Frederica] Mogherini and [Neighborhood and Enlargement Policy Commissioner Johannes] Hahn said there should be no preconditions to ensure Armenia’s full engagement. Any changes in the format should be necessarily coordinated with all the sides, including the adversary, i.e. – Azerbaijan in our case.”

That statement is basically a call for continuing the negotiations based upon the existing format, the politician added. “That includes the [2011] Kazan principles which essentially developed from the [2007] principles adopted in Madrid. The statement specifically refers to 2009-2012, the worst-case ever scenario we could possibly have,” he said.

Hakobyan highly appreciated the National Security Council’s recent sitting in Stepanakert as a positive signal, which he said “must have a continuation” to ensure a real progress. “We have repeatedly stated that Artsakh’s unification with Armenia should be the final settlement format. It should mark the final triumph,” he said, proposing the “phasal scenario” as a possible option.

“Artsakh’s recognition could be one of the phases. Before achieving that, however, we need certain sub-phases,” the politician added.

As an optimal solution, he suggested that the official Stepanakert itself authorize Pashinyan to negotiate on behalf of its government.