Yesterday an international conference dedicated to the NKR conflict resolution and the Turkish-Armenian relations was launched in Stepanakert, organized by the central office of Hay Dat.
During his opening speech ARF Bureau Representative Hrant Margaryan mentioned that in the foreign affairs “front” extremely dangerous developments are formed for Armenia. According to him the NKR conflict, Armenian-Turkish relations, issues of the Armenians of Javakhk and other challenges must be observed as a whole. “It would be naïve to think that it is possible to make a concession in any national issue without jeopardizing the whole national cause. On the contrary, making a concession in one issue will result in a chain of concessions in others,” stressed Margaryan in addressing other delegates of the conference. Margaryan said he saw a danger and ‘wrong course’ in the Armenian-Turkish relations and the ongoing Karabakh settlement process, which he said might have ‘heavy consequences’. "I demand to return to the point of starting good relations with Turkey without any preconditions. Our main goal is the unity of the nation on all issues, which are interrelated," Margaryan said. Any concession by the Armenian side will cause chain reaction, because Turkey has no intention to renounce its conditions, according to him. Margaryan also noted that Stepanakert can’t be indifferent about Armenian-Turkish talks. He also mentioned that the Genocide issue is taken out from the foreign affairs of agenda despite the fact that the Armenian government hasn’t made any official statements on that. According to Kiro Manoyan, Head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office, Dashnaktsutyun is concerned about the current stage of negotiations on both the Karabakh issue and the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations. “The Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF) Hay Dat Central Council organizes this conference, proceeding from the fact that the Armenian-Turkish relations and the current stage of the negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh arise many concerns among the society,” he said. As for the Armenian-Turkish relations, ARF adheres to the opinion that Armenia should withdraw from the talks. Regarding the negotiations on Karabakh settlement, Kiro Manoyan notes that the primary issue at the given point is to ensure Artsakh’s participation in the talks. According to Kiro Manoyan, the conclusions drawn as a result of the conference will make the basis of the platform ARF has promised to present. During the forum speeches were made by experts, who arrived in Armenia from different countries. Speeches were also made by the chair of the Heritage parliamentary faction Armen Martirosyan, chairman of the HRAK party Harutyun Arakelyan, chairman of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan. Long speeches were made by the foreign affairs minister of the NKR Georgi Minasyan and the former foreign affairs minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan. They both signified the mobilization of Armenia’s resources. According to Oskanyan a number of pre-conditions were created for that – the new setup in the region, an abstruse situation for Armenia due to the wrong policy on part of the government, the declaration of April 22 (road-map agreement) dug a spine between Armenia and the Diaspora, the tense internal political situation of Armenia, absence of democracy, etc. And according to G. Petrosyan, “If we had the right to put our signature in the document of the ceasefire then we would have the right to build our peaceful life and this is irrefutable for everyone and fist of all for us. It is wrong to degrade their indisputable fact at various occasions. We have an objective to become a negotiating side as a political subject.” According to him there is a very important issue that needs to considered and it relates to the negotiation format. “We have numerously mentioned at various levels that we have serious objections on various points of the negotiations. We don’t do anything during the negotiations except for consulting with Armenia,” noted Petrosyan and added that at present we should avoid the war by all means, He mentioned, “we should think how we should mobilize our forces when it becomes necessary to do so because the threat of war is always there.”