Karabakh Talks Are Deadlocked, Says ARF’s Manoyan

YEREVAN—The most recent visit by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmen to the region proved that the Karabakh conflict talks are stalled, said Armenian Revolutionary Federation Political Director Giro Manoyan on Wednesday during a press briefing.

“The co-chairs’ statement that talks will continue on foreign ministers’ level was merely to reduce the likelihood of war,” said Manoyan.

“With the co-chairs unable to take effective steps to activate talks, Armenia has to intensify efforts for Karabakh recognition and also remind Baku that the Safarov incident was the actual reason behind the current deadlock,” he added.

Manoyan asserted that Azerbaijan cannot keep the peace talks hostage based on its whims.

“The international community must show Azerbaijan that it is not beneficial for it to continually postpone negotiations” he said.

“Be it absolute recognition, partial recognition or recognition by provinces, cities or states, the recognition efforts need to be intensified by all means,” urged Manoyan.

The ARF leader also hailed Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic) President Bako Sahakian’s insistence to include Karabakh in the talks during the latter’s meeting with the co-chairmen.

Manoyan also discussed the current crisis in Syria and the impact that it has on the large Syrian-Armenian community, reiterating that Syrian-Armenians must remain in Syria.

“We have suffered some casualties because of the overall situation there, rather than targeted attacks,” said Manoyan.

“Most of the Syrian Armenian community remains in Syria,” said Manoyan. “Some say they have no money to leave the country or have nowhere to go. But that can be only one of the reasons. The main reason is that the Armenian community has properties and established livelihoods and does not want to flee at once.”