ArmInfo.In an interview to the Public TV of Armenia, the first president of Armenia and the leader of Armenian National Congress (ANC)-People's Party of Armenia (PPA) bloc Levon Ter-Petrosyan explains what concessions Azerbaijan will make in the Karabakh conflict settlement in case the Armenian side returns the Artsakh-controlled territories.
"The international community considers seizure of territories to be unacceptable, however, given the Artsakh people's right to physically safe existence, the international community has fixed the Artsakh people's right to self-determination. This is already a concession. Moreover, the international community thinks that the problem of the status should be resolved by means of a referendum. This is a huge victory one could only dream of," the first president stresses.
The second concession, he says, is the fact that the UN and the OSCE are considering possible exercise of Artsakh's right to independence. "The international community does not acknowledge Karabakh's control over the territories and demands immediately returning them, however, the Lachin corridor is an exception, given that it is impossible to ensure the security and normal economic development of Artsakh without overland communication with Armenia. This is already a big concession," Ter-Petrosyan says.
He notes that the Azeri side also admits that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, which sign the final document, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan themselves will become guarantors of implementation of the given agreement. "This legitimizes the fact that Armenia is the guarantor of Artsakh's security and if any attack is mounted on the territory of Artsakh or Lachin corridor, Armenia has the right to interfere based on international standards," he says, expressing confidence that the signing of such a document will be a miracle, which will happen by all means.
Ter-Petrosyan thinks that the territories will be given not to Azerbaijan, but to the international community, which demands them. "It does not matter what Azerbaijan demands. We must implement the UN and OSCE demands. All proposals are quite balanced. We have no problems with Baku. Armenia and Azerbaijan have applied to the international structure to resolve the problem and both sides should accept the decision of that structure," he says, noting that there is no provision about Artsakh's return to the negotiating table. There is only a verbal promise of the Co-Chairs. "However, this will happen at a certain moment," he stresses.