Aram Safaryan, Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) parliamentary faction does not share the opinion that the three principles of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have for the first time been set in Athens – territorial integrity, nations’ right to self-determination and non-use of force. “Such a statement was first approved last December, at a sitting of the OSCE Foreign Ministers’ Council. The Council’s statement confirmed that the settlement must be based on the three fundamental principles of the Helsinki final act. I think that this is evidence of positive expectations within the OSCE – the OSCE mediators make a positive appraisal of the negotiation process over the last year,” he said.

Safaryan, however, is concerned over the fact that, on the one hand, Azerbaijan puts its signature to the statement and welcomes the atmosphere within the OSCE, but, on the other hand, keeps on making bellicose statements thereby trying to convince the international community that a military settlement of the conflict is quite real. “I think the other signatories to the document should be concerned over the fact even more than Armenia,” Safaryan said.

In its turn, the Armenian Opposition political forces find the principle of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is incorporated in the statement, which implies self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh’s as part of Azerbaijan. Responding to NEWS.am’s question concerning the justifiability of this argument, Safaryan said that “it is entirely impossible, as it is common knowledge that Nagorno-Karabakh is not part of Azerbaijan.”

“The question is whether Armenia and Azerbaijan will be able to come to terms, which would be incorporated in international documents. I disagree with the opinion that Armenia may, some day and under pressure, agree to leave Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. It is impossible. It is deception or self-deception,” he said. In this case, what do the Co-Chairs mean by Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity? “They mean the territorial integrity that will suggest to Azerbaijan that Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence has no alternative,” Safaryan said.