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ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES WARN AGAINST KARABAKH 'SELLOUT'
http://www.rferl.org/content/armenian_opposition_parties_warn_against_karabakh_ sellout/24244814.html
June 23, 2011
YEREVAN -- Two major Armenian opposition parties have warned President
Serzh Sarkisian against accepting a compromise solution to the conflict
over the breakaway Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, RFE/RL's
Armenian Service reports.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the Heritage
(Zharangutyun) party reaffirmed their position that the proposed
basic principles of Karabakh peace envisage disproportionate Armenian
concessions to Azerbaijan.
They also argued that those principles -- favored by international
mediators -- have not been approved by Karabakh's ethnic-Armenian
leadership.
Heritage spoke of a "criminal plot" against the Karabakh Armenians
in a special statement on the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit that will
take place in the Russian city of Kazan on June 24.
"We remind and caution the Armenian president who heads for Kazan that
any meeting held without the presence of the legitimate representatives
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, or any document which is born from
such a meeting, is legally null and void," read the statement.
Stepan Safarian, a senior Heritage member, said Sarkisian will face
street protests if he formalizes Yerevan's acceptances of the basic
principles at Kazan.
He told RFE/RL that "If the Republic of Armenia signs a document
that came into existence as a result of an illegal process excluding
Nagorno-Karabakh and under Azerbaijani threats, we will not put up
with that. I am sure that the presidents of both countries would have
serious trouble selling those decisions to their societies."
The Heritage statement likewise warned that Sarkisian's "formal
participation in this conspiracy will entail his effective
self-resignation from the homeland and his official duty. In the event
of such unacceptable developments, he must be prepared to legalize such
resignation through the conduct of preterm presidential elections."
Both parties, which are represented in parliament, claimed that the
peace formula at the heart of the settlement, which was first formally
proposed by the U.S., Russian, and French mediators in Madrid in 2007,
cannot lead to a lasting peace.
"The Madrid principles carry a much greater danger of war than even
the preservation of the status quo," Vahan Hovannisian, the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation's parliamentary leader, told RFE/RL. He would
not say whether his party, which was represented in Sarkisian's
government until 2009, is also ready to stage antigovernment
demonstrations.
The peace proposals envisage a gradual resolution of the Karabakh
conflict that would start with Armenian withdrawal from territories
in Azerbaijan that surround Karabakh.
Karabakh's final status, the main sticking point, would be resolved
in a future referendum.
Government officials and politicians loyal to Sarkisian say the
referendum would enable the Karabakh Armenians to eventually win
international recognition of their de facto secession from Azerbaijan.
Heritage and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation dismiss this
argument, saying that major territorial concessions to Baku would
only jeopardize Karabakh's security.
"I think it would be naive to talk about surrendering territories,
because life shows that the Azerbaijani side uses every opportunity
to broaden possibilities of bellicose statements and especially
hostilities," said Hrayr Karapetian, another senior Armenian
Revolutionary Federation figure who chairs the parliament committee
on defense and security.
Karapetian predicted that Sarkisian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev are unlikely to sign any major agreements in Kazan.
"I'm sorry to say this because no party -- even the most national
party, which I think I represent -- wants war," he told journalists.
"We want a peaceful settlement. But not at the expense of our people
and our future."
The Armenian National Congress (HAK), a larger and more influential
opposition force led by former President Levon Ter-Petrossian, has
expressed concern about some details of the framework peace accord
made public so far. But unlike Heritage and Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, it has not rejected the document out of hand.
In a newspaper interview published today, Ter-Petrossian pointed out
that the current peace plan is very similar to a settlement which
he unsuccessfully advocated during the final months of his 1991-1998
presidency.
"There is only one element that makes it different from that draft:
the idea of holding a referendum on Nagorno-Karabakh's status,"
Ter-Petrossian told the daily "Moskovskie novosti." "But it is
not backed up by anything yet.... There has been no talk of legal
consequences of that referendum."
http://www.rferl.org/content/armenian_opposition_parties_warn_against_karabakh_ sellout/24244814.html
June 23, 2011
YEREVAN -- Two major Armenian opposition parties have warned President
Serzh Sarkisian against accepting a compromise solution to the conflict
over the breakaway Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, RFE/RL's
Armenian Service reports.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the Heritage
(Zharangutyun) party reaffirmed their position that the proposed
basic principles of Karabakh peace envisage disproportionate Armenian
concessions to Azerbaijan.
They also argued that those principles -- favored by international
mediators -- have not been approved by Karabakh's ethnic-Armenian
leadership.
Heritage spoke of a "criminal plot" against the Karabakh Armenians
in a special statement on the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit that will
take place in the Russian city of Kazan on June 24.
"We remind and caution the Armenian president who heads for Kazan that
any meeting held without the presence of the legitimate representatives
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, or any document which is born from
such a meeting, is legally null and void," read the statement.
Stepan Safarian, a senior Heritage member, said Sarkisian will face
street protests if he formalizes Yerevan's acceptances of the basic
principles at Kazan.
He told RFE/RL that "If the Republic of Armenia signs a document
that came into existence as a result of an illegal process excluding
Nagorno-Karabakh and under Azerbaijani threats, we will not put up
with that. I am sure that the presidents of both countries would have
serious trouble selling those decisions to their societies."
The Heritage statement likewise warned that Sarkisian's "formal
participation in this conspiracy will entail his effective
self-resignation from the homeland and his official duty. In the event
of such unacceptable developments, he must be prepared to legalize such
resignation through the conduct of preterm presidential elections."
Both parties, which are represented in parliament, claimed that the
peace formula at the heart of the settlement, which was first formally
proposed by the U.S., Russian, and French mediators in Madrid in 2007,
cannot lead to a lasting peace.
"The Madrid principles carry a much greater danger of war than even
the preservation of the status quo," Vahan Hovannisian, the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation's parliamentary leader, told RFE/RL. He would
not say whether his party, which was represented in Sarkisian's
government until 2009, is also ready to stage antigovernment
demonstrations.
The peace proposals envisage a gradual resolution of the Karabakh
conflict that would start with Armenian withdrawal from territories
in Azerbaijan that surround Karabakh.
Karabakh's final status, the main sticking point, would be resolved
in a future referendum.
Government officials and politicians loyal to Sarkisian say the
referendum would enable the Karabakh Armenians to eventually win
international recognition of their de facto secession from Azerbaijan.
Heritage and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation dismiss this
argument, saying that major territorial concessions to Baku would
only jeopardize Karabakh's security.
"I think it would be naive to talk about surrendering territories,
because life shows that the Azerbaijani side uses every opportunity
to broaden possibilities of bellicose statements and especially
hostilities," said Hrayr Karapetian, another senior Armenian
Revolutionary Federation figure who chairs the parliament committee
on defense and security.
Karapetian predicted that Sarkisian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev are unlikely to sign any major agreements in Kazan.
"I'm sorry to say this because no party -- even the most national
party, which I think I represent -- wants war," he told journalists.
"We want a peaceful settlement. But not at the expense of our people
and our future."
The Armenian National Congress (HAK), a larger and more influential
opposition force led by former President Levon Ter-Petrossian, has
expressed concern about some details of the framework peace accord
made public so far. But unlike Heritage and Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, it has not rejected the document out of hand.
In a newspaper interview published today, Ter-Petrossian pointed out
that the current peace plan is very similar to a settlement which
he unsuccessfully advocated during the final months of his 1991-1998
presidency.
"There is only one element that makes it different from that draft:
the idea of holding a referendum on Nagorno-Karabakh's status,"
Ter-Petrossian told the daily "Moskovskie novosti." "But it is
not backed up by anything yet.... There has been no talk of legal
consequences of that referendum."