They are trying to connect this with the current stage of negotiations on the Karabakh conflict and discuss why the authorities used their administrative resources to organize such a rally 18 years after the tragic incidents in Sumgait. What did they want to prove with this? They have mostly discussed the announcement made to the international community during the rally, which says: “In this critical situation, when the security of Armenians is undermined and in danger, Armenians will not accept any non-constructive suggestions and negotiations”. In fact after the recent announcement of Arkadi Ghukasyan some people are of the opinion that the negotiations with Azerbaijan may stop. Yesterday, the MP from the “Justice” alliance Shavarsh Kocharyan spoke about the necessity to stop the negotiations with Azerbaijan. Why does Mr. Kocharyan make such an announcement right now? Also, the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev announced yesterday in Bonovshalar village of Aghdam region that the negotiations have reached a deadlock and blamed Armenia for this. Although Azerbaijan has announced that they want to solve this conflict peacefully, yesterday Aliev announced that Azerbaijan should get ready for a war with Armenia. “The latest events prove that the Armenian side wants to prolong the negotiations. Thanks to Armenia the negotiations have reached a deadlock, and in this case Azerbaijan should revise its approach”, and added that they had increased their military expenses to be ready for all possible developments. “We are the losing party and we have a right to solve our problem in any way we like. We must be ready and citizens must be mobilized”, said the president of Azerbaijan. According to him the biggest compromise they have made so far is that they have negotiated during these 12 years. According to Aliev, Armenia is coming up with a genocide policy. Several hours after these announcements made by Aliev, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan made a speech on this issue too. It is very interesting that the Ambassador didn’t exclude the fact that it is possible to restart a war. He commented on the recent announcement of the American co-chairman of the Minsk group Steven Mann, who said that it will be a real tragedy if the conflict is not resolved this year. He also clarified what he meant regarding the tragedy: “If there is no development in the conflict settlement, it is possible that there will be different developments, one of which is war, which will open a way to tragedy in the region”, said Rino Harnish. He also said that everyone should remember the refugees’ living conditions. “This is the reason why we petition both sides to find a way to settle the conflict”, said the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan. According to him on March 7-8 the OSCE Minsk group co-chairmen are going to meet in the US, where they will discuss the future steps after the results of the negotiations in Rambouillet. But Mr. Harnish added that we can hardly expect any positive results from the meeting in the US regarding the peaceful solution of the conflict, but Americans are sure that the co-chairmen will get a lot out of the conferences. Speaking about the announcement of the secretary of the US Department of the State, Nicolas Burns, the Ambassador said that the conflict will be settled in the near future. Anyway, in conclusion, we can assume that the West is adding more pressure on the parties to solve the problem, in response to which the parties blame each other for some things and organize some demonstrations. It is also worth mentioning that after the announcement of the Russian president about his intention to invite the president of Armenia to Moscow to consult with him on Karabagh issue, there are rumors that the president of Armenia will also be invited to Washington. According to our sources, President Kocharyan will leave for Moscow at the end of this month (March 27). It is worth mentioning that the last time Kocharyan paid a visit to the US in 2001, where he met with Heydar Aliev in Key-West to negotiate on the Karabagh conflict.
