Tevan Poghosyan: Artsakh can and must return to negotiating table

ArmInfo. Artsakh can return to the negotiating table, however, for this, Armenia must defend its position. Tevan Poghosyan, Director of the International Center for  Human Development, said this at a press conference on August 22.

According to him, none of the Armenian presidents gave the liberated  territories and this is not expected in the near future. "The  security of Artsakh, which is directly connected with the security of  Armenia, depends on these territories, in addition, these territories  are not part of Armenia, they are part of Karabakh, and only the NKR  people and government can dispose of them," the expert said, noting  that he recently visited Artsakh and can confidently note that there  no one intends to surrender any territory.

In this context, Pogosyan noted that the return of Artsakh to the  negotiating table is very important.  "Only the Artsakh government  can represent its interests at the negotiating table, I think it is  very important to return the Karabakh party to the negotiating table  and I want to assure you if we consistently promote our point of view  on this issue and constantly work in this direction with us  everything will turn out, because with the help of diplomacy you can  achieve a lot, "the expert said.

At the same time, Poghosyan also noted that in order to continue  negotiations on the Artsakh issue, it is necessary to create a  "negotiating atmosphere". "After the April war, the relations between  the countries have heated up and it is extremely difficult to  negotiate in such a situation." The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are  now working in this direction, and I am sure that the negotiation  process on this issue will continue soon, but negotiations will be  inadequate until, while the representatives of Karabakh will not  return to the negotiating table, "concluded Poghosyan.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan repeatedly stated that the  negotiations on the Karabakh issue without the participation of the  Artsakh side are inadequate. The prime minister noted that if the  international community and Azerbaijan want to resolve the Karabakh  issue, it is illogical to discuss it in a format that cannot be  solved. Pashinyan stated that it is impossible to resolve the issue  by not negotiating with one of the parties to the conflict.

In turn, the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, in his  recent interview with "Yerkir Media" TV channel noted that the new  government should assume all the burden of responsibility for the  negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh. The second president of  Armenia stated that if there are no negotiations, then the war  becomes the only means of resolving the issue. Kocharian stressed  that one of the primary tasks of the opposition is to prompt the  authorities to solve problems. He noted that he is ready to talk with  Pashinyan on the Karabakh problem and take responsibility for this.