Last week, OSCE American co-chairman Matthew Bryza went against the Karabagh conflict negotiators and revealed the main provisions of the Karabagh conflict resolution negotiations.
It is worth mentioning that Bryza’s announcements were the same as before. There had already been information about this a while back and besides that, some Western analyst groups had held talks about the same principles that Bryza talked about.
Matthew Bryza revealed the secrets by the consent of the U.S. State Department. This goes to show that the U.S. definitely wants to resolve the Karabagh conflict by the end of this year.
Leader of the “Republic” party Aram Z. Sargsyan is happy to see Matthew Bryza reveal the secrets because in his opinion, keeping the conflict resolution confidential creates obstacles.
“It’s a good thing that the co-chairmen finally realized that they can’t keep the conflict resolution a secret from the society. The confidentiality, in this case, has become an obstacle for resolving the conflict and discussing it with the society. With that said, I am pleased to see that Matthew Bryza raised the negotiations at the social level without going too much in detail,’ says Aram Sargsyan.
Besides that, according to Sargsyan, Bryza shows that the U.S. is willing to resolve the Karabagh conflict by the end of 2006 by setting deadlines for the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan must meet by the end of the summer or the beginning of fall. It is the responsibility of both presidents to resolve the Karabagh conflict once and for all. This is like an obligation, when you order the presidents to give a “yes” or “no” answer,” says Mr. Sargsyan.
According to head of the Armenian National Movement administration Ararat Zurabyan, Bryza’s announcements prove that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, except Russia, are ready to resolve the conflict quickly.
“I’m certain that the time has come to finally resolve the Karabagh conflict, otherwise things may be unpredictable. I don’t think that Armenia will benefit by prolonging the resolution this time,” says Ararat Zurabyan.
Secretary of the “Justice” alliance Victor Dallakyan considers Matthew Bryza’s announcements as an indirect pressure by the Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities.
“By presenting the main principles of the conflict, they are trying to make the presidents understand that they have to do everything based on the agreement. Judging from that, I think that they will sign a document on the principles in 2006,” says Dallakyan.
He also sees Matthew Bryza’s announcements in the context of the U.S.-Iran war.
“This also has to do with the recent U.S.-Iran-Middle East ties. The U.S. wants to resolve the Karabagh conflict as soon as possible so that it can allocate peacekeeping forces on the Iranian border. That’s their vision of the conflict resolution,” says Dallakyan.
Besides all that, according to Dallakyan, the U.S. is going to try to make the sides agree on the general principles before the Great Eight meeting to be held on July 15 in St. Petersburg.
Vice-president of the “National Unity” party Alexan Karapetyan says that their party has mentioned a lot about the agreement made between Kocharyan and Aliev concerning the Karabagh conflict. According to him, the American co-chairman’s announcements about the principles means that “they are now making the societies listen to them.”
Leader of the National Assembly Republican faction Galust Sahakyan doesn’t think that Bryza is saying anything new. Mr. Sargsyan believes it is important to fix the status of Karabagh.
“Only after fixing the status of Karabagh may we go further in detail. The conflict may be resolved through open discussions and compromises after that,” says the representative of the Republican party.
As for leader of the Armenian Democratic party, Aram G. Sargsyan, the West has gotten active in solving the Karabagh conflict because the presidents are not doing anything.
“The U.S. is taking control because the Armenian side isn’t taking the initiative. The Armenian authorities haven’t discussed the issue the right way and that’s why we are pressured,” he says.
After Matthew Bryza’s speech, you get the impression that the Armenian authorities are once again trying to resolve the Karabagh conflict through stages rather than going along with the package deal. They agree with the phased resolution proposed by first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, but the Karabagh conflict has gotten more complicated throughout the years and this time it’s forcing them not to choose between “bad and worst”, but rather “peace and war”.
Of course, Galust Sahakyan does not agree with this.
“We’re not going to go back to resolving through stages. There has to be a package deal. The Armenian National Movement didn’t like the proposal back then either, but they were forced to go along with it and said that they would take a different path later on,” says head of the Republican faction.
However, head of the ANM administration Ararat Zurabyan claims that there is no alternative to the proposal of first president of Armenia Levon-Ter Petrosyan and that it has been proven throughout the years.
“There are no changes compared to the principles set forth back in 1998. If my memory serves me right, Lachin and Kelbajar were some of the territories that had to be returned. Now, Lachin has turned into a topic for discussion and they want Kelbajar along with the other five territories. If the Karabagh conflict were to be resolved back then, Armenia wouldn’t fall behind on some economic projects. Currently, we are not only behind, but the Azerbaijani side is also asking us to return the seven regions,” says Alexan Karapetyan.
Victor Dallakyan said the following to the authorities:
“The authorities pulled off a state overturn in 1998 and said that they were doing that in order to resolve the Karabagh conflict and widen Armenia’s territory by 8,000 square meters. However, they have different principles now and the package deal is turning into a conflict through stages. For the time being, since the authorities are illegitimate, they can go along with any kind of resolution,” says V. Dallakyan.