Yesterday the head of the Heritage faction Stepan Safaryan said that interesting and noteworthy processes are taking place regarding the NKR conflict resolution and that the possibility of war had increased. He finds the last statement of the special envoy of the EU in South Caucasus Peter Semneby quite noteworthy. He tried to convince the Armenian side to accept compromises. In his opinion it was not an accident that the state officials of the NKR responded to that. According to him Safaryan a few people have echoed on the report of the International Crisis Group, according to which an open confrontation is possible on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. This was followed by reports and statements by a number of other international organizations. They also raised the possibility of resumption of war. “This hazard really exists. As a matter of fact the issue of the NKR has become some means to take the parties out of the deadlock,” mentioned Safaryan. In his opinion the international community is inclined to yield to the notions of the Azerbaijani side. “The terror of the possibility of resumption of war contains actual risks. They are trying to impose Armenia to accept compromises,” said the head of the Heritage faction. When speaking of the Armenia-Turkey relations he mentioned that after the signing of the protocols the situation has become blocking. “Some people may call this a waiting process as Armenia has told Turkey that the Armenian parliament will ratify the protocols only after the ratification of the protocols on part of Turkey. But I would call it a deadlock situation as the normalization of relations is majorly connected with the NKR conflict,” said Safaryan. “European politicians link the Armenian-Turkish relations with the solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict”, leader of the oppositionist Heritage faction of Armenian parliament Stepan Safaryan after his meetings with EU officials in Brussels and Strasbourg. He said today Europe welcomes Turkey as a sunrise of the region and OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship is open for this country. Safaryan said there was no united attitude to the Armenian-Turkish relations and called the protocols a deadlock for Armenia. “Turkey aims to achieve solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict until April, 2010 and to prevent recognition of “Armenian genocide” by the US Congress. The second minimal goal is the making Turkey the regional leader. For that reason, Turkey will delay ratification of the protocols. Ankara is trying to solve the Karabakh conflict within the interests of Azerbaijan using its diplomatic and other opportunities”. According to him, the European Union is diverse – politically, economically and culturally. According to Stepan Safaryan, such a policy could supplement an asymmetry in the relations between Armenia and Turkey and Armenia would be able to introduce certain issues between Armenia and Turkey to the European agenda. Speaking of prolonging the process of ratification of the Protocols of the Armenian-Turkish Turkish Parliament and the reaction of the EU, Stepan Safaryan said that Turkish authorities explained to the European institutions the delays with ratification of Protocols by their attempts to find consensus with the opposition to avoid internal political destabilization. In the long-run the most important thing is that these protocols are ratified as late as possible so that more issues are solved in this context, including the NKR conflict.
