ARF-D politician rules out progress on Artsakh, warns of further escalations

Progress in the negotiations over Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is ruled out in the current state of affairs, the political affairs director of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) said today, warning of a high likelihood of future border tensions.

Speaking at a news conference, the politician cited Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s speech at the Valdai Discussion Club (in Sochi, Russia), condemning his expansionist ambitions reflected in the statement “Karabakh is Azerbaijan - period”.  

“Considering the way Azerbaijan’s president delivered a speech - as well as his response - I don’t think we can expect a progress the [conflict] settlement talks,” he said, stressing also the importance of strengthening state capacity (as a key tool of self-reliance).

Meantime Manoyan agreed that the world powers would pursue more cautious policies in the South Caucasus to prevent escalations in the fragile region amid the current Syrian chaos. “Yet, the chances are high that developments of the kind may be provoked in the couple of months to come. There is a kind of desire to attract more role-players for other purposes, which is not certainly in our interests.”

Commenting on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s UN address proposing a solution “satisfying all parties” (Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan), Manoyan called for a more clearly defined wording to outline the specific implications. “As a tactics proper, it sounds really good on the part of the prime minister to say that [the conflicting parties] should be content, but why does not he point out to a specific formula, which we do not actually have?”

The politician said he doesn’t see the prime minister “translating is statements into action”. “Whenever he says ‘Armenia is Artsakh – period’, he needs to actually prove that in practice,” he said, referring to the ARF-D’s earlier campaign (under the former government) for adopting a clause contributing to Artsakh’s international recognition.