Hovhannes Hovhannesyan: nature of Armenia-Turkey rapprochement tends to become increasingly marasmic

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia-Turkey rapprochement got off to a bad start, followed by the wrong development of the process, according to Hovhannes Hovhannesyan, the chairman of the Liberal Party of Armenia (LPA).



"Having no legitimate status in Armenia, the president sought to compensate the lack of it with his so-called initiative foreign policy, which also failed miserably," he told a news conference in Yerevan.



"The nature of Armenia-Turkish rapprochement tends to become increasingly marasmic, posing a threat to Armenia's security. Resignation of current authorities and early presidential elections are the only way out of situation," he stated.



Dwelling on Karabakh conflict, LPA leader emphasized that the revised Madrid principles have cornered Armenia. "These principles offer a stepwise approach to conflict settlement, which is a much harder solution compared to that proposed by Levon Ter-Petrossian," LPA leader concluded.



The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out back in 1991, when, subsequent to the demand for self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve the issue through ethnic cleansings, carried out by Soviet security forces (KGB special units) under the pretext of the implementation of the passport regime and by launching of large-scale military operations, which left thousands dead and caused considerable material damage. A cease-fire agreement was established in 1994. Negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen (Russia, USA, France) and on the basis of their Madrid proposals, presented in November, 2007.



Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race in the region and openly violating on of the basic principles of the international law: non-use of force or threat of force.