MELIK-SHAHNAZARYAN: ABSENCE OF NKR PRESIDENT’S SIGNATURE THE MAIN SHORTCOMING OF THE DECLARATION
armradio.am
04.11.2008 17:10
According to political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan’s assessment,
the declaration signed by the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Russia on November 2 is the first document that includes no
mention of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Instead, it points to
the necessity of resolving the conflict on the basis of the Madrid
Principles, which state that the people of Nagorno Karabakh have the
right to self-determination.
According to Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan, another positive peculiarity of
the declaration is that the parties agreed to refrain from applying
force.
The political scientist considers that the main shortcoming of the
document is the absence of NKR President’s signature under it. "When
speaking about solving the conflict in a peaceful way, one forgets
that the border of the conflict is the border between Karabakh and
Azerbaijan, and in case war restarts, the military actions will launch
there," Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan noted.
As for the role of Russia in the signing of the declaration, that
country skillfully used the circumstance that the US is engaged
in presidential elections, and the world is concerned about the
financial crisis.
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan added that the signing of the Declaration
was really in line with Russia’s interests. However, the concern that
Russia is willing to deploy troops (peacekeepers) in the liberated
territories is baseless. He said Russia would not benefit from it
after the Russian-Georgian conflict.
At the same time, Mr. Melik-Shahnazaryan confirmed his opinion that
the Karabakh conflict will be resolved on the battlefield, not at
the bargaining table.