For the moment, the Madrid Principles are not the key element in the Karabakh peace process. In the given process high priority is given to the negotiations themselves, which ensure relative peace in the conflict zone, Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament, member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Hermine Naghdalyan has told ArmInfo's correspondent when commenting on Nagorno-Karabakh Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan's latest statement about the unacceptability of the Madrid Principles to Stepanakert.
"For the moment, it is more important to maintain the peace. If the fragile ceasefire is breached, the Madrid Principles will fade into insignificance", she says. Naghdalyan also stresses the need to ensure long-lasting talks, which create premises for discussing the options of the peace process. "We may be displeased with some of the options we are offered, but the talks should be continued", she says. The Vice Speaker also says that not a single document can be adopted without Stepanakert's consent. Naghdalyan thinks that Stepanakert should return to the negotiation table and that the talks should be conducted either between Stepanakert and Baku or among Stepanakert, Baku and Yerevan.
To note, at a recent online press conference, the NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan said that the Madrid Principles are unacceptable to Stepanakert and that Nagorno-Karabakh will reject those principles if it becomes a party to the negotiations. Meanwhile, official Yerevan has repeatedly stressed that the Madrid Principles are the basis of the Karabakh peace process.
Ara Harutyunyan also said that the NKR and Armenia are one state, whereas Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has recently stated that Armenia and the NKR are two separate sovereign states. The second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, disagrees with Sargsyan's stand and says that Armenia and the NKR are a single state and stresses the need to gain international recognition of that fact. -n-