Artak Zakaryan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, Parliament of Armenia, believes that call for reaching peace by means of ungrounded mutual concessions by some political forces are at least strange.

In response to Tert.am’s question concerning a “peace platform” proposed by leader of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) Levon Ter-Petrosyan – whether it is mere propaganda or sufficient steps are not being made to establish peace – Mr Zakaryan said:

“I do not think Mr Ter-Petrosyan and our partners from the ANC do not know our neighbor, Azerbaijan, well. And it is at least strange they are trying to justify their calls for peace with such ungrounded mutual concessions or concessions at all. Speaking of it today is tantamount to both derailing the peace process and the struggle we once launched,” he said.
Either negotiations or use of force can guarantee mutual concessions.

“However, regular ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan make any talks about mutual concessions illogical,” Mr Zakaryan said.

He cannot perceive phased concessions.

“Phased concessions are out of the question. What does ‘phased concessions’ mean? Are we to give in once, then twice and so on? I am well aware what mutual concessions actually mean. A start to mutual concessions is recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh’s rights to self-determination, with relevant documents signed. Azerbaijan is speaking of it thus obliging us to make relevant mutual concessions. But I am against return of lands without Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-determination,” Mr Zakaryan said.

With respect to the border tension, he said that Azerbaijan is sparing no effort to escalate the situation.

“And they are seeking to cause a deep crisis in the Minsk process.”