Opposition MP: Any proposed resolution to Artsakh conflict would have  been better than what Pashinyan did

ArmInfo. Any resolution to the Artsakh conflict would have been more favorable for Armenia than what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did, as stated by Artur Khachatryan,  NA member from the opposition "Armenia" faction, in response to the  previously published "documents on the Artsakh conflict negotiation  process" on the government website.

According to Khachatryan, the published documents essentially refute  Pashinyan's assertions that the international community considered  the settlement of the Artsakh conflict solely within the framework of  Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. In this regard, the MP called for  attention to the proposals put forward by the Minsk mediators between  2006 and 2019. As the MP recalled, in 2011, a full document proposed  by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the conflict settlement was  presented in Kazan. "After Azerbaijan's failure to implement the  Kazan document, the right of the people of Artsakh to  self-determination was reflected in all the working documents of the  'Lavrov plan' (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's plan - ed.).  The documents published by Pashinyan also refute his other  statements, for example, about ignoring the proposal for an interim  status," the opposition leader noted.

Khachatryan also highlighted the existence of other proposals for  resolving the Artsakh conflict, such as the initiative put forth by  the Russian-Finnish Co-Chairs in April 1997 and the  Sakharov-Starovoitova proposal from 1988. According to the MP,  Pashinyan had  mispresented even the meaning and purpose of the UN  Security Council resolutions regarding that matter.

"UN Security Council resolutions, in particular 874 (1993) and 884  (1993), are part of a general package of norms. They endorse the  settlement option proposed by the OSCE. At that time, nine  participants in the OSCE Minsk Conference presented a proposal for a  package settlement, which included determining the future legal  status of Artsakh at the Conference, addressing the consequences of  the war, including the withdrawal of the armed forces of the  Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from adjacent areas and Azerbaijani forces  from the Martakert region. Incidentally, I note that the UN Security  Council resolution was also included in the 'Lavrov plan,' which was  presented to the parties in various working versions between 2014 and  2019," Khachatryan noted. The MP also criticized the reprinting of  conflict resolution proposals from a book by Vladimir Kazimirov,  former Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, calling it a  mockery.  According to Khachatryan, everyone interested in  negotiations on Artsakh had long been familiar with these proposals.  "By the way, anyone with eyes will see that Pashinyan has  misinterpreted even the logic of the 'common state,'" the opposition  figure added.

Khachatryan further noted that Pashinyan had not publish the 1999  OSCE Istanbul Declaration, but had only restated the Armenian  authorities' recognition of Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. "Perhaps  this declaration has simply been overlooked. In any case, it won't  hurt if I reiterate that in Istanbul  Armenia did not recognize  Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan," the MP emphasized.

He also noted that the Key West documents had not been published.  Instead, Pashinyan presented a clipping published in his newspaper,  Haykakan Zhamanak, which, he claimed, he received in 2008 from the  campaign headquarters of first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan  regarding this stage of the negotiation process. "I wonder if they  don't have the document, how did they judge its contents? If this  document 'disappeared' from the Foreign Ministry in 2018, why didn't  they ask the Americans, Russians, or French for a copy while in power  for almost eight years? Either publish the document or admit you've  been pulling the wool over the people's eyes for so long,"  Khachatryan concluded.