Epress.am News from Armenia
In a unipolar political arena, in the absence of an opposition to counterbalance the authorities, the domestic situation in Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be considered stable, said head of the public Council for Foreign Policy and Security Issues, former presidential candidate Masis Mailyan in an interview with NewCaucasus.com.
According to him, the level of democracy in the de-facto republic has become somewhat reduced. “But I don’t agree with the opinion that in the issue of ‘political rights’ and ‘civil liberties’ NKR is already comparable with Azerbaijan — by acquiring the status of a ‘ not free’ state.”
“The development of democracy has two important functions for NKR: first, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh would be able to live in a country where human rights are protected and the rule of law prevails.
“Secondly, democracy has an important foreign policy function for NKR. Democratic developed countries, based on their own system of values, understand that… a more developed society cannot be controlled by the authoritarian regime of another state. In most countries of the former Soviet Union, there’s a retrogress on democratic values. In order to achieve international recognition of NKR, the government, political parties and society are obliged to hold back the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh from this dangerous trend,” he said.
Commenting on the popularity of the ideology of Armenian National Congress in Nagorno-Karabakh, Mailyan said, “Of the political parties in Armenia, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is represented only by Dashnaktsutyun [Armenian Revolutionary Federation], which is part of the pro-government bloc of Karabakh parties. Since May 2007, there is no organized opposition force in NKR, though a disposition toward the opposition is noticeable there.”
Asked whether it’s likely that former NKR president Arkady Ghukasyan will return to his position, Mailyan said, “Much will depend on the political will of the former president and the support of Yerevan’s leadership.”