Ter-Petrosyan uses cunning: Aghasi Yenokyan
“I exclude that Russia may wish to cooperate with Ter-Petrosyan,” Aghasi Yenokyan, Head of the Center for Political and International Studies, told 168.am, reflecting to the speech by Levon Ter-Petrosyan at the ANC Party convention.
Speech by the First Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan appeared in the center of the political field, expert community discussions, in particular, criticism. “There is no another variant for Karabakh issue settlement, than step-by-step one. Today, basically, the same proposal of mutual concessions is on the negotiation table, as in 1997, i.e. the variant of granting Karabakh the internationally recognized interim status against concession of some territories, and the variant of leaving the issue of final status to the future by deploying peacekeeping forces on the line of contact,” Levon Ter-Petrosyan said, adding that the allegation “war is the alternative to mutual concessions,” proven by innumerable historical examples, is not disputable.
Against the background of dual policy pursued by Russia during the NK conflict settlement, which, according to experts, also contributed to the outbreak of the April war, reflection of the First president on Russia’s role in NK issue was rather noteworthy. “Putting aside the past, it’s obvious that currently we are facing the imperative of not losing another moment of Karabakh conflict settlement, evidence to which are, in particular, efforts exerted by Russia recently. Once I mentioned, that the key to Karabakh issue settlement is in Russia’s hands, and its all efforts come to prove truthfulness of that allegation. Moreover, as already mentioned, Karabakh doesn’t take a place among the priorities of the West, surely not only realizes, but also assesses Russia’s special role in that issue,” Levon Ter-Petrosyan said.
Aghasi Yenokyan considers that the addressee of the First Armenian president is neither Russia, nor Azerbaijan, nor Armenia’s authorities. He believes, that the addressee of that reflection was the Armenian society. “Levon Ter-Petrosyan, in his opinion, attempted to launch a pre-election stage by uttering an original opinion, gain votes, position himself in politics as a power supporting peace. Thus, I consider, that the addressee was the Armenian society in a wider sense,” Yenokyan said.
In his conviction, the part referring to the importance of Russia’s role was significant. “It was important, but L.Ter-Petrosyan made an incorrect accentuation, stating that the key to the settlement is in Russia’s hands, as the key to non-settlement and war is in Russia’s hands, and it’ll never concede its position. Russia stays here as a destabilizing factor. The biggest issue of this speech is that realizing this all, after his resignation, particularly during the last 8 months, Ter-Petrosyan has repeatedly attempted to strengthen Russia’s role in Armenia.
Also perfectly realizing that Karabakh conflict settlement isn’t favorable to Russia, i.e. on account of his activity and speech, it’s becoming obvious that this was simply a manipulative speech,” Yenokyan said.
The political scientist considers that by his speeches Ter-Petrosyan has repeatedly made a proposal of cooperation to Moscow. He believes this time wasn’t an exception either. “The point is that Russia doesn’t want working him, Russia has a more serious partner, with whom it works, in particular, partners, who don’t often conceal, that their issue is non-settlement of NK conflict. And Ter-Petrosyan uses cunning: on the one hand, he wants that Moscow worked with him, and touches upon the settlement on the other,” Yenokyan said. Touching upon the circumstances, in which Moscow would like to work with Ter-Petrosyan, Yenokyan said, “I exclude, that Russia may wish to cooperate with Ter-Petrosyan himself.”
By Araks Martirosyan
