YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Peace proposals made by Russia are far more beneficial for Nagorno-Karabakh than an Armenian-Azerbaijani deal promoted by the West, Karabakh Armenian political leaders said on Thursday.
They claimed that Moscow wants to indefinitely delay an agreement on Karabakh’s status while the Western powers favor the restoration of Azerbaijani control over the Armenian-populated territory.
“The variant acceptable to us is the proposals made by the Russian Federation,” said Artur Harutyunyan, a senior member of the Free Homeland party led by Arayik Harutyunyan, the Karabakh president. “They stipulate that the conflict is unresolved and that there needs to be a negotiating process.”
By contrast, he said, the United States and the European Union are trying to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty that would “trample” on the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination.
Davit Galstyan, a leader of the opposition Justice party, likewise asserted that “the Russian variant of the peace document” would “freeze” the conflict without restoring Azerbaijani rule in Karabakh.
“The other document seen by us would close the Artsakh issue once and for all as it regards the people of Artsakh as an ethnic minority living in Azerbaijan,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
According to Galstyan, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan revealed the Russian plan to Arayik Harutyunyan during their recent meetings in Yerevan.
A delegation headed by the Karabakh leader visited Armenia earlier this month to seek clarification over the Armenian government’s plans to sign the peace treaty with Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan has repeatedly expressed readiness to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity through such a treaty. His critics say that this would amount to Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh and pave the way for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers deployed there following the 2020 war.
Over the past month, Yerevan and Baku seem to have made major progress towards the peace accord in peace talks mediated by the United States and the European Union.
In an apparent reference to the Western powers, Harutyunyan said on October 20 that “international players trying to offer their services with regard to that treaty are not quite making beneficial proposals.” He also declared that he “cannot imagine the future of Artsakh” without continued Russian military presence there.
It was also announced on Thursday that Karabakh’s main political groups will simultaneously hold on Sunday a special session of the local parliament and a rally in Stepanakert to reiterate their concerns about the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. Galstyan said they will adopt a joint statement warning Yerevan against helping Baku regain control of Karabakh.
