Gagik Melikyan: ‘It is impossible to achieve the final settlement of the NK conflict without the participation of Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations’

YEREVAN, JULY 20, ARMENPRESS: It is impossible to achieve the final settlement of the NK conflict without the participation of the Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations, Gagik Melikyan, member of the Armenian Republican party’s faction said today at the meeting with journalists. According to him, the same fact has been stressed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, who mentioned in their latest statement about the importance of the NK’s participation.

As to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s statement, according to which NK cannot use the right of nations to self-determination, because of the existence of the Armenian State, he said: ‘If we follow the same principle, we can say that the existence of Azerbaijan is not necessary for the world, as there is a Republic of Turkey. Secondly, it is not Mamedyarov, who must dictate the terms of usage of the right of nations to self-determination,’ the deputy said.

He stated that Armenia has not occupied any territory of Azerbaijan, so it does not have to give back any territory. ‘The Nagorno Karabakh liberated its territories via a war, which was obliged to it by Azerbaijan,’ Gagik Melikyan said.

At the latest congress of the Armenian All-National Movement Levon Ter-Petrosyan stated that Armenia cannot develop without regulating the NK issue and Armenian-Turkish relations. Commenting on the statement, Gagik Melikyan said there is a shred of truth in this. ‘The fact that the NK issue and Armenian-Turkish relations are not regulated yet has some influence on the development of Armenia’s economy, but the influence is not so big,’ he said.

In answer to Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s another statement, according to which the danger of war is real and the authorities should be frank with their own nation, Gagik Melikyan said the Armenian authorities are too frank with their own nation, and the decisions, adopted by the authorities, are quite transparent. ‘In all the stages of the process of talks the Armenian authorities always informed about their decisions on the settlement of the NK issue. However, I cannot say the same thing about the Azerbaijani authorities,’ Gagik Melikyan said.