Levon Ter-Petrosyan: parties in Karabakh conflict prefer mediation of the West

Despite the fact that at first sight the honour to initiate Karabakh settlement belongs to Russia, nevertheless, the final full stop will be put by the West, believes the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

In his comments on the outcomes of the meeting Medvedev-Sarkisyan-Aliev on November 2 in Moscow, which ended with signing of declaration on settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Mr Ter-Petrosyan said that both Sarkisyan and Aliev took part in the Moscow summit, if not forcedly, then with undisguised displeasure; and ultimately, although under different motives, will prefer mediation of the West.

Being interviewed by the Internet edition "А1+", the ex-President has noted that the Moscow meeting, although being a turning point, was still only a start in the process of settlement. Now this process continues in Europe, and it will end, most likely, in December in the USA.

According to his version, the Moscow declaration should be considered to be one of the major stages of the negotiation process. Mind that this document is just the peak of an iceberg. It is underlined by a considerably more detailed protocol, the content of which is easily guessed.

Firstly, the starting point of the declaration contains a disturbing formulation, according to which "the Karabakh conflict will be settled on the principles and norms of the international law and decisions and documents adopted in the frameworks thereof". The latter surely means, on demand of Azerbaijan, Resolutions 62#243 of the UN General Assembly and 1614 of the PACE, which recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and demand to withdraw Armenian troops from the border territories with Nagorno-Karabakh.

Besides, the fourth point of the Moscow declaration, which emphasizes the necessity to settle the problem through direct negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in fact defines a new format of negotiations. Thus, according to the first President of Armenia, the declaration is finally burying the decision of the 1994 Budapest OSCE Summit, according to which the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was recognized as the third full-fledged party of the conflict.

In the opinion of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the most important result of the Moscow declaration is the fact that the two conflicting parties as defined by the new format - Armenia and Azerbaijan, having signed this document, gave their official consent to the Madrid proposal, which is an unprecedented event for the whole process of conflict settlement.