“Robert Kocharyan left for Armenia and that had a negative effect on the society of Nagorno-Karabakh. Karabakh found itself in the status of a poor friend and hoped that Kocharyan would do something. However, the people are waiting,” Manvel Sargsyan, expert for the “Caucasus” center from Karabakh, said on Friday during a press conference, in response to the question as to how Robert Kocharyan’s move from Karabakh to Armenia reflected upon the Karabakh peace talks. Sargsyan added that the current Karabakh president, Arkadi Ghukasyan, may be “commissioned” to Armenia, and take 50 people with him, but if the public doesn’t like such phenomena, then he should stop all similar developments concerning Ghoukasyan’s position.. Sargsyan also mentioned that there are also deputies from Armenia that are “commissioned” to Nagorno-Karabakh, but that is not accepted as bad as in Armenia.
According to Sargsyan, the government officials of Karabakh are not higher in quality than the Armenian government officials.
“Some are even nonprofessional, but the fact that Karabakh remains unrecognized plays a restricting role. The government official won’t take on certain responsibilities because then the people will tell him the country collapsed or a war started because of him.”
Sargsyan says that, like in Armenia, there is no such thing as a separation between the society and the authorities in Karabakh, but the authorities of Karabakh are not ready for elections with alternatives. In fact, they are not happy that Deputy Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Masis Mailyan is the alternative for Bako Sahakyan.
“The 1991 movement gave birth to nearly a dozen leaders in Karabakh, but it was very essential in that all of them came to terms and Arthur Mkrtchyan was elected by the people. I want to see an election where the people vote for whomever they want. Legitimate authorities have more power. Arthur Mkrtchyan was elected, and representatives of different countries immediately visited the president of the unrecognized country. They made Arkadi Ghukasyan president and nobody knew his name for two years,” assures Sargsyan, adding that nothing has changed in the Karabakh peace settlement since 1994. As far as the frequent announcements that Karabakh must join the talks are concerned, according to Sargsyan, those announcements are manifestations of despair.
“Karabakh is not participating in the talks because nobody wants Karabakh to participate. Karabakh must stand up for its political issues, and those issues must be conceded to Karabakh. If Armenia doesn’t concede and assumes the responsibility, Azerbaijan happily comes to negotiate (Armenia has less demands than Karabakh). It is one thing to have a debate about territories with Armenia, and another thing to have a debate with Karabakh. In the debate with Armenia, Azerbaijan immediately sets a systematic issue on the table – you got this much, I got this much,” says Sargsyan.
He finds that Karabakh must present what it can add to the talks before becoming a direct participant.
“There were proposals made to Armenia as to whether Nagorno-Karabakh must decide for itself the issue concerning territories and refugees or not. Armenia may only discuss the issues concerning the armed forces. If the sides are not going to accept this, then it is nonsensical for anyone from Karabakh to go and participate in the talks without having his word,” notes Sargsyan.
With regards to the Nagorno-Karabakh presidential elections, Sargsyan said that that is not only the “issue” of Nagorno-Karabakh; rather, it is also an issue of Armenia’s national security.
“Armenia should not interfere in the Karabakh presidential elections, but mustn’t observe from the sidelines either. All three million citizens of Armenia must show active interest,” says Sargsyan. According to him, the struggle during the presidential elections is mainly going to be between two candidates – head of the National Security Services of Nagorno-Karabakh, Bako Sahakyan, and Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan. Sargsyan says that the Karabakh authorities are not really happy about the nomination of Mailyan, and that is exactly the reason all parties of the Karabakh parliament support the nomination of Bako Sahakyan.