Armenia’s political forces expect no positive breakthrough from the OSCE Summit in Astana scheduled for December 1-2.

As long as the parties are firmly upholding their positions and are not ready to compromise, it is senseless to expect breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process, Stepan Safaryan, the head of the Heritage parliamentary group, told the briefing today. 

In his turn, secretary of the ARFD group Artyusha Shahbazyan stated that any document is unlikely to be presented to the conflicting parties in Astana, as it may escalate situation which is presently rather tensed. According to him, most likely an attempt to strengthen agreements reached during trilateral meeting in Astrakhan will be made. “Steps aimed to exclude incidents in the conflict zone and strengthen regional stability will be probably taken,” the MP stated. He considers that it is senseless to expect resolution of the Karabakh conflict until Azerbaijan copes with the status quo.

Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia group Aram Safaryan noted that signing of any document on Karabakh at the OSCE Summit is out of the question. “Although the Minsk Group Co-Chairs offered to sign a framework agreement, but it is hard to specify the precise date,” the MP stressed. According to him, presently mediator’s efforts are aimed at holding peaceful talks, an alternative is only war.

Galust Sahakyan, leader of the Republican parliamentary group, noted that regular round of talks will be held in Astana. “In particular issues related to necessity of holding negotiations in the context of Azerbaijan’s warlike statements will be discussed. However, Armenian President Serzh Sargsya’s statement already outlined the main line – Nagorno-Karabakh can not be a part of Azerbaijan,” he said.