Ilham Aliyev Not as Bold as His Father in Karabakh Issue: Manoyan

A positive statement at the upcoming meeting of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Kazan will be successful for the parties since it will mean that negotiations are continuing, said Giro Manoyan, director of the International Secretariat (in Armenian also known as Central Hai Dat office) of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D) Bureau in Yerevan, speaking to journalists today.

“The failure of negotiations also doesn’t stem from Azerbaijan’s interests for the reason that Azerbaijan is not able to win a war in such conditions. If it is forcibly going to enter a war, because talks have failed, it won’t stem from its interests. It’s important for both [Armenia and Azerbaijan] that negotiations continue,” he said.

In Manoyan’s words, Azerbaijan’s former president Heydar Aliyev at one time was able to tell his people that “ten years these people have lived independent of us, now let’s liberate, as they say, the adjacent areas.”

According to the Hai Dat director, today’s president (referring to Ilham Aliyev) doesn’t have that boldness. “But over time he can also convince [his people] that he truly doesn’t have an alternative and to agree with it. But to do that they have to create an appropriate atmosphere in their country because they have begun to be a victim to their campaign.”

Touching upon the Kosovo option, Manoyan did not rule out the possibility that contrary to Azerbaijan’s will, the world might arrive at its solution on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and “this version too Azerbaijan has to see and understand.”