No Artsakh-related documents essentially different from the Madrid  principles - Stepan Grigoryan

ArmInfo.In an interview with ArmInfo, the political scientist Stepan Grigoryan said that as a person who has over the last three decades dealt with the conflict  over Artsakh he does not know about any documents that are  essentially different from the Madrid principles.  

"Therefore, if Armenia's Premier Nikol Pashinyan knows anything about  any additional documents, he should present them to the public. In  any case, his year-end statement on a 2011 document, which did not  contain a single word about Artsakh's interim status, implies this  very step. He later corrected his words, though. But in any case, I  would advise him to conduct a more thorough study of the documents on  Artsakh," the expert said. 

As regards Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev`s much-talked-of  statement at his meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg  and attempts to draw parallels between the so-called Lachin and  Zangezur corridors, Mr Grigoryan said that such parallels appear at  least strange, as President Aliyev is trying to draw parallels  between the situations that have very little in common. In this  context, no comparisons are admissible between the "road of life" to  Artsakh, which is still being sniped at, and the road to Nakhichevan,  which is neither blockaded nor sniped at. 

Speaking of two major events of 2021 - the Pashinyan-Aliyev meetings  in Sochi and Brussels - Mr Grigoryan views them as showing somewhat  concurrent positions of the West and Russia on the Armenian-  Azerbaijani peace process. He believes that the Kremlin views the  Brussels talks as a follow-up to the Sochi meeting. In this context,  Mr Grigoryan emphasized the fact that Moscow had no objections to a  dialogue between Pashinyan and Aliyev in Europe. The intention of not  only Russia, but also other actors, to deal Artsakh and with the  problems on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border caused by the Azerbaijani  aggression can only be welcomed. 

"In this context, further negotiations stand a chance of proving a  success. Any disagreements on Artsakh between the major actors would  hinder the process of dealing with the spectrum of problems. The  Brussels agenda proved much close to that of the Shochi meeting,  which is evidence of absence of conflict between Moscow and Brussels  over at least this issue. As regards the Sochi meeting, no strict  requirements were imposed on Yerevan in the context of corridors,  border delimitation and demarcation or specific dates for decisions  of crucial importance for Armenia were set," Mr Grigoryan said.