Astana Opened the Door to New Retreats by Armenia: Zurabyan

“The statement signed by the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries and Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s presidents during the OSCE Summit in Astana related to settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict reaffirms the principles declared in L’Acquila and Muskoka and reflects the conflicting parties’ obligation to settle the Karabakh issue on [the basis of] those principles,” said Armenian National Congress (HAK) coordinator Levon Zurabyan, presenting HAK’s statement on the Astana summit during a press conference in Yerevan today.

According to the opposition member, the Astana statement essentially sums up the changes that took place in the Karabakh settlement process during RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s tenure. “And Sargsyan’s signature on the statement signifies RA authorities’ official agreement on the discussed settlement plan and reflects the unacceptable withdrawal of Armenian diplomacy during these years.”

Zurabyan then listed the “destructive withdrawals” of Armenian diplomacy during Sargsyan’s presidential term:

“Armenia continues the political line pursued by Robert Kocharian to ignore the OSCE’s 1994 decision to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an equal party to the negotiations, as a result of which the mention of Nagorno-Karabakh as a party to the conflict and a participant that is equal in rights in the negotiations has been eliminated from the joint statements by the presidents of the co-chair countries,” said the HAK coordinator. 

According to the statement presented by Zurabyan, by agreeing to the simultaneous application of the principles of territorial integrity and self-determination, Armenia officially agreed to settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. 

“It must be noted that by making such concessions, Serzh Sargsyan was unable to secure Azerbaijan’s constructive position,” he said. According to the opposition member, Astana opened the door to new retreats, which are conditioned by violating the military-political balance — in Azerbaijan’s favor. 

“It’s obvious that every day of Serzh Sargsyan’s regime’s existence brings new blows to national security. The situation can change only through Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation and the development of a legitimate government through extraordinary elections,” concluded Zurabyan.