STRANGE NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NEGOTIATIONS
Gevorg Harutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
20 Nov 08
Armenia

As we know the President invited the leaders of all the registered
parties to participate during the discussions on the topic "The
Process of the Peaceful Settlement of Nagorno Karabakh Conflict". The
leaders of the parties, member to the Armenian National Congress,
also received this invitation, but they refused to participate in
the discussions. On this occasion

Representative of ARFD Supreme Body, Chairman of NA Committee on
Foreign Relations Armen Rustamyan expresses his viewpoint.

"The initiative of the President is really commendable. It lays an
important foundation to hold discussions regarding vital issues
and directly hear the positions of the political forces. All the
political forces are given the possibility to have influence on the
decisions of state and national importance. The decisions will be
well elaborated and pro-Armenian, because they will derive from the
general interests. I hope the initiative of the President will be
ongoing and the thematic discussions will be regular.

It is very important for the structures that consider themselves
political forces to be able to express their standpoints and
positions directly to the country’s President. So it is an exclusive
occasion. And it is very strange that some political forces use this
occasion to put forward th eir preconditions.

In such circumstances the best thing to do for the political forces
is to estimate their role in the right way. If the political force
comprehends that they are unable to have any influence on the
situation, that they are not a real force, then their refusal to
participate in such an important discussion is quite understandable.

It is hard to imagine any political force, the participation of which
in the discussion of Karabakh issue will not be helpful. Of course
if that force has got a standpoint and stance.

So it is strange why the parties acting in the radical pro-oppositional
field refused to participate in the discussions organized by the
President.

When Ter-Petrosyan announced about the closing of the demonstrations,
when he announced that the settlement of Karabakh conflict is very
near and he doesn’t want to hinder this process, so why doesn’t
he want to help the process? Why doesn’t he want to use his chance
and meet tête-a-tête with someone who has direct participation in
the negotiations? Because Serge Sargsyan’s failure is our failure,
isn’t it.

So it is senseless to avoid responsibility, or to abstain from taking
necessary actions. Dashnaktsutyun is also concerned and we will
definitely participate in that political discussion, because we can
influence the decision and that way we can find a more pro-national
solution. We can discuss a ll those issues inside the coalition
but it is not right to miss any chance that can contribute to the
settlement of the conflict. Besides that we must understand that
the joint discussion of all the political forces will bring to more
comprehensive solutions."

–Boundary_(ID_kh5BzMONcGTnPahZ2 f90SQ)–