Turkey is turning into an independent and interested party to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, the former NKR Foreign Minister Arman Melikyan told a press conference on Thursday.

Pointing out the deepening Russian-Turkish ties, he expressed confidence that they can develop into strategic relations. “The Russian-Turkish ties, which are groing close, arouse concern. If Armenia does not change the emphasis in the peace process, the rapprochement might lead to territorial losses,” Melikyan said.

Commenting on the updated Madrid Principles, Arman Melikyan welcomed Armenia’s silence on the issue, stressing that this approach by the RA Government can afford an opportunity for a new political guideline. “Azerbaijan and Turkey desperately try to compel Armenia to accept the updated Madrid Principles. If they cannot do it now, they will never be able. That is the reason Azerbaijan has recently raised this question regularly,” he said.

Arman Melikyan thinks the status quo in NKR will be maintained provided the right foreign policy is pursued. “It is possible provided a new political situation developes: the liberated territories are settled, the issue of the NKR’s international recognition put forward and relations with neighbors are improved,” he concluded.

A.G.