Armenian authorities' non-meticulous approaches to Karabakh peace 'impact our positions' on peace talks – Karen Bekaryan

With their statements lacking a detailed wording on Armenia's approaches to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), the authorities create a kind of snowball effect, deteriorating our positions in the peace talks, political analyst Karen Bekaryan said Monday, commenting on the summit held between the Armenian and Azerbaijani top leaders.

″Unlike the Munich debate, which was going on live, the principles made public allowed for an opportunity of prior discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – instead of relaince upon the responses,″ he said during the analytical broadcast Between the Lines (aired by Armnews TV channel).

As a problematic provision, Bekaryan highlighted especially the second point, which he said contained no reference to the territories, emphasizing only the urgency of the security compnent.

″The territories aside, there is, first and foremost, the problem of exercising the right to self-determination. And that shouldn't depend on anyone's whims,″ he emphasized.

For a more correct and comprehensive wording, the analyst proposed his own classification of priorities, where he said the exercise of rights should be superior to their unquivocal recognition and acceptance.   

″The borders of Artsakh and Azerbaijan can be a subject of debates between Artsakh and Azerbaijan themselves – only after the recognition by Azerbaijan of the right to self-determination and the complete deployment of the internationally guaranteed security mechanisms,″ he added.

Addressing the prime minister's remarks on the principles behind ″macro-″ and ″mini-″ revolutions, the analyst called attention to ″very essential delicacies and minutia″.

″That principle has to be given a detailed wording as 'micro-' and 'mini-' revolutions create a kind of impression that Azerbaijan is being given an opportunity to more strongly insist on its phase-by-phase solution option,″ he said, noting that a potentially different implication has to either sound perceivable or be clearly stated (ruling out a phase-by-phase solution) not to make room for any misinterprettion.

Bekaryan further commented upon Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement describing democracy as an important guarantee that has to ″strengthen and solidify the security of Armenia and Artsakh″.

″It is a very correct remark and observation – but with an essential gap. The process we are facing with the judiciary authorities and the Constitutional Courts has nothing with the classical norms of democracy. If we add to this the prime minister's words, we have to state that the authorities are torpedoing one of our security guarantees,″ he said.