DASHNAK LEADER SEES INCREASED PRESSURE ON ARMENIA
Irina Hovannisian
Armenialiberty.org
http://www.azatuty un.am/content/article/1794943.html
Aug 7 2009
Turkey’s preconditions for normalizing relations with Armenia have
left Yerevan under stronger international pressure to make concessions
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a senior member of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) said on Friday.
Giro Manoyan said the United States and other mediating powers are
pressing the conflicting parties to sign up to their basic principles
of a Karabakh settlement before an October 14 football match in Turkey
which Ankara hopes will be attended by President Serzh Sarkisian.
"Their haste is in effect related to Turkey’s precondition that it
will not sign a [normalization] agreement with Armenia until there is
progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue," Manoyan told RFE/RL. "As far
as Karabakh is concerned, this haste is against Armenian interests
because it does not stem from the logic of the conflict’s resolution."
Dashnaktsutyun, which pulled out of Sarkisian ruling coalition in
April, is strongly opposed to the framework peace accord drafted
by the American, French and Russian mediators co-chairing the OSCE
Minsk Group. The nationalist party has also been highly critical of
Armenia’s rapprochement with Turkey that was initiated by Sarkisian.
The dialogue between the two nations gained momentum when Turkish
President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan last September to watch
the first-ever game between the two countries’ national soccer
teams. Sarkisian has made clear that he will not travel to Turkey
for their return match this fall unless Ankara takes "real steps"
to reopen the Turkish-Armenian border.
Novruz Mammadov, a top aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev,
likewise claimed earlier this week that the Karabakh mediators have
stepped up pressure on the Armenian side not least because of the
Turkish-Armenian dialogue. The Armenian Foreign Ministry brushed
aside the claim.
Visiting Turkey on Thursday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin reaffirmed his country’s stated commitment to ending the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. But he said Moscow can not force
either party to go along with the compromise deal. "We will by all
means assist in finding agreements and compromises that will lead to
a final and complete settlement of the conflict," Putin told a news
conference in Ankara.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
