Official Armenia does not rush to take the Protocols to the Constitutional Court of Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - In particular, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs, ARF Dashnaktsutyun representative Hrayr Karapetyan noted that the bill presented by the ARFD provides amenability for denial of the Armenian Genocide or for trying to call that fact into question. "We'll see if our MPs will risk to vote against its adoption," emphasized Hrayr Karapetyan.

Another opposition party, "Heritage", despite the fact that the two ruling parties - the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and the Prosperous Armenia - have already expressed their opposition to an immediate recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic independence, continues to insist on putting the bill on the Parliament agenda. At a press conference on Monday Anahit Bakhshyan, MP from the Heritage faction stressed that Armenia must necessarily recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh to have the right to demand the same from others. Moreover, according to Bakhshyan, the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh by Armenia will contribute to its involvement in the negotiation process as a full member. She also stressed that after the recognition of the NKR independence, the attitude of international organizations would change towards it, as it will already be a recognized state. When asked by reporters about the boundaries in which the Heritage proposes to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh, the deputy answered: "Our party takes for granted the 142nd article of the Constitution of NKR, which says that "all the liberated territories are part of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic".

However, the position of republican parties remains unchanged. On the request of PanARMENAIN.Net, commenting on the initiative of "Heritage", Secretary of the parliamentary faction of the Republican Party of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov stated that unilateral recognition of the Nahorno-Karabakh independence by Armenia should not become an end in itself, because the leadership of Armenia seeks to achieve, first and foremost, the international recognition of Artsakh. He grounds the party's position by the fact that the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement is within the competence of the OSCE Minsk Group, and if Armenia is to unilaterally recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh, it would impede the process of peaceful settlement.

Representative of another party, Secretary of the "Prosperous Armenia" parliamentary faction Aram Safarian, once again verified the consistent position of the party in this matter, stating that the need for recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh independence by Armenia has not matured yet. He justified this approach by the fact that recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh independence by Armenia, without agreeing it with the OSCE Minsk Group, may collapse the negotiation process. However, Safarian thought it necessary to mention that he expressed his personal view on the matter, because the party had not yet discussed the issue and he could say nothing about the official stance.

Quite relevant remained during the week the subject of ratification of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols. The positions of the political parties of Armenia have remained unchanged. ARF still believes the ratification of these documents is extremely dangerous for national interests of Armenia and continues collecting signatures, intended to be submitted to the Constitutional Court of Armenia as soon as the Protocols get there for examination.

"For now, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has not yet introduced the Armenian-Turkish Protocols to the Constitutional Court of Armenia," Spokesman for RA Constitutional Court Hovhannes Papikyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. However, he did not exclude that the Protocols might be submitted to the Constitutional Court at the next sitting of the CC.

In an interview given to Reuters late on Friday, RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated that negotiations between Turkey and Armenia were over and both sides assumed the obligation to get a move on establishing diplomatic relations and opening the border under the accords signed this month. "Why should we have signed the Protocols, if we had no mind to ratify and implement them? I believe that the international community expects rapid ratification and implementation of the Protocol, as well as respect of the parties for the agreements reached," declared the Armenian FM.

Later, in the middle of the week, Leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan voiced the standpoint of his party. "We've already presented our statement on the Protocols' ratification with certain reservations to RA NA Chairman Hovik Abrahamyan," declared Sargsyan at press conference in Yerevan. According to him, the issue is more than urgent today, as Turkey has frozen the ratification process, and, as far as he knows, she is preparing to produce reservations as well. "We believe that, first of all, reservations should refer to bilateral obligations about non-interference of the parties with internal affairs of a third state. If Armenia fails to make such a declaration on parliamentary level, she will have to deal with further difficulties in the NKR issue," emphasized the Leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia.

Middle of the past week was also marked by yet another loud message that triggered but a short resonance in Armenia. It was the information in the Azerbaijani media, according to which Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Tina Kaidanow had allegedly stated that the USA would recognize Karabakh independence, should Azerbaijan attempt to launch military operations in NKR.

Stepan Safaryan, Head of the "Heritage" parliamentary faction regarded "the statement" as certain leverage of pressure against Azerbaijan. He did not exclude that the statement is also a message for Armenia, urging her "to no longer delay and give a rapid solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through mutual concessions". Replying to the question addressed by a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, if NKR recognition would provoke a renewal of hostilities by Azerbaijan, Stepan Safaryan said, that possibility of war does not depend on the recognition of independence of NKR, but on the military-political potential of Azerbaijan. "And it is here that we still have much to do to maintain the political and military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan," emphasized the head of the faction.

A bit different point of view on this issue was expressed by Leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan. Commenting on the statement, issued by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tina Kaidanow, he noted that there might be some truth in it, spite of the fact that the statement was refuted by the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan. Replying to the question addressed by a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Aram Sargsyan stressed that such statements are always denied, but they are sent as trial balloons in anticipation of reaction. "It's no secret that Azerbaijan is preparing for war. The evidence of it is the huge amount of weapons purchased. But I can certainly say that the bitter experience in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that America is against the resumption of any military action at the contact line between the NKR and Azerbaijan, as this process can not be stopped. If the Karabakh war begins, it will not just be local, as it was the first time. This time the consequences would be most terrible," Sargsyan said.

End of the week was marked by active meetings of the Armenian authorities with OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and NATO representative Robert Simmons. Arriving in Yerevan, OSCE MG Co-Chairs on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and Robert Bradtke (U.S.) met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. The meeting was also attended by Personal representative of OSCE, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk. and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

More widely were highlighted the meetings of NATO Special Representative for Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons with the top management of Armenia, although only standard information was distributed about Armenia's cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance within the Individual Partnership. A wide range of issues were discussed on military cooperation between Armenia and NATO, establishment of peace and international security, participation of Armenian armed forces in NATO actions, settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Armenian-Turkish relations. However, most interesting is the fact of increased political activity of NATO in Armenia.

Spokesman for the Republican Party of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov believes that over the past year the international authority of Armenia has considerably increased thanks to the attempts of the Armenian President and Foreign Minister. Moreover, Sharmazanov noted that Armenia has deepened its cooperation with both CSTO and NATO. "Over the past year Armenia hosted presidents from 8 countries," declared Edward Sharmazanov at a press conference at the end of the week.