Wednesday, December 28 2016 13:16

ArmInfo. When criticizing the statements about the need for territorial concessions within the frames of the phased settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the authorities say they are unaware of the process itself, the first  president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan says, when responding to the  criticism against his speech at the congress of the Armenian National  Congress Party regarding the need to make territorial concessions.     

According to ilur, the politician says that when speaking of  territorial concessions, he said nothing new, because the provisions  he voiced at the congress have been discussed by the Armenian  authorities since 1997. "I did not voice my own stand on the Karabakh  settlement. I voiced the concept, which is currently being discussed  at the talks and which has actually been adopted by the authorities.  So, the ANC has nothing to do with it. In particular, the matter  concerns the Madrid-Kazan-Lavrov option of the settlement, which does  not actually differ from the phased one: "In the first phase, the  Armenian party returns to Azerbaijan 5 out of the 7 districts under  Artsakh's control, except Kalbajar and Lachin. The second phase  implies deployment of peacekeeping forces on the new line of contact.  In the third phase, Artsakh receives an internationally recognized  interim status. The fourth phase implies removal of the blockade from  Armenia and Artsakh and restoration of all communication ways among  Azerbaijan, Artsakh, Armenia and apparently Turkey. Afterwards,  Artsakh's final status is determined and the remaining two districts,  except the Lachin corridor, are returned to Azerbaijan," he says. 

The first president recalls that since 2007 and especially over the  past year, the Armenian authorities and the OSCE Minsk Group  Co-Chairs (particularly Russia) have been discussing that very option  of settlement. "That is to say, it is the official stand of the  Armenian side and the Republican Party of Armenia and its coalition  partner ARF Dashnaktsutyun are responsible for that. So, the critics  of territorial and mutual concessions, who consider such a stand to  be defeatist, slam their own program, and this is ridiculous," he  stresses. 

Ter-Petrosyan notes that the ANC supports the given option of the  settlement, because it is afraid that if the settlement is delayed,  Armenia and Artsakh will be weaker. "And the next option will be even  more unfavorable for the Armenian party," he says, adding that he has  made that speech now because there is no more convenient time than  the pre-electoral period.  

To note, Ter-Petrosyan's speech at the ANC congress stressed the need  for territorial concessions from the Armenian side. The authorities  have strongly criticized him, saying that it is irrelevant to speak  of any concessions now.