Epress.am News from Armenia
“I have no expectations from the [Nagorno-Karabakh peace] process. [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev won’t give that which we expect, [and] we won’t give what Azerbaijan expects, while on the whole, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev considers the purpose of this meeting to be to gather two signatures so that the threat of war disappears,” said People’s Party of Armenia leader Tigran Karapetyan, while speaking to journalists today on the trilateral meeting between the presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan taking place today in the Russian city of Astrakhan.
Speaking on the Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR) conflict, Karapetyan noted that submitting the bill to recognize NKR’s independence to the National Assembly by the Heritage Party is a provocation, because the status quo will be breached.
“They [i.e. the Heritage Party] knew from the beginning, they know, that it won’t be approved, but this is pre-election campaigning, American PR. At one time, [Heritage Party leader] Raffi Hovannisian was [Armenia’s] foreign minister; he should have put forth this issue at that time. As for [then president] Levon Ter-Petrossian not allowing him [to do so], that I don’t believe,” he said.
Responding to a journalist’s observation that two months ago, he had said that he was in favor of the Heritage Party’s resolution, Karapetyan said that he supports only the idea.
“Of course, Nagorno-Karabakh must be one of the Armenian marzes [provinces], but now the issue of recognizing [its independence] is simply a provocation,” said the politician, contradicting his earlier statement.