YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–"The most urgent task of Armenia’s diplomacy is to overcome the aftermath of the Lisbon Summit," Hamayak Martirossian–Senior scientist of the Armenian Institute of History said at a workshop dealing with the legal and geopolitical aspects of the Karabakh issue.
He sharply criticized the Armenia–which displayed its extreme weakness at the Lisbon summit when none of the OSCE-member countries had voiced even sympathy for Nagorno-Karabakh. This–according to Martirossian–testifies to the fact that the Armenian diplomats are not ready for such meetings.
He also pointed out that Armenia did not use all mechanisms of the United Nations and wide opportunities of the information and propaganda sphere. Martirossian also criticized the Levon Ter-Petrosyan for his staff policy.
He stressed the necessity of drawing a parallel between the position of the international community in 1915 and the one it holds now. According to him–super powers pandered Turkey then–and now are doing the same with Azerbaijan.
To this end–a renowned Armenian political expert Hakop Hakopian noted that Armenia’should draw relevant conclusions regarding the attitude of super powers–which have never supported it. "The surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan means the victory of Panturkism both in the Transcaucasus and North Caucasus. Russia would not understand this–but the domination of Turkey in the region will become indisputable."
Hakopian said he was perplexed over Ter-Petrosyan’s statemen’s about the necessity of compromises. "In fact–we have to return all what we have won. For the first time during the entire history of the national-liberation struggle we have attained such great success."
One of the focal points of the workshop was the problem of the Caspian oil. Head of the Center for Strategic Research "Horizont" Mher Shahgeldian said: "The problem of the Caspian oil and its real significance for the United States have been artificially swollen. According to available data–circa 50 percent of oil are delivered to the US from Latin America–25 percent–from the Persian Gulf countries and the same are of domestic origin. This shows that the United States needs only 5-10 percent of the Caspian oil."
According to him–that aspect proves that one should be more skeptic as to the possibility of the oil factor to influence the Karabakh negotiation process.