Aleksandr Manasyan: “Even if we want to surrender territories, they may prevent us” (video)
“The formulation of the return of territories itself means that they are the owners of these territories, by this formulation we consider ourselves to be an intruder,” said political expert Alexander Manasyan at today’s meeting with journalists. According to him, there are numerous lapses in the Armenian diplomats’ rhetoric over the process of NKR conflict settlement. “The Armenian side has never raised the issue of Armenians living in Azerbaijan as well as the issue of Nakhichevan. Also the Armenian side has never touched upon the issue to discuss the NKR issuer on legal bases.” Actually, according to Mr. Manasyan’s observation, the return of territories is just rhetoric in the negotiations process, which has nothing to do with the reality. “This issue has been discussed for over 25 years. In the negotiation process the sides have chosen three language approaches; the Azerbaijani side has chosen bellicose statements, the Armenian side – comparably soft rhetoric, while Stepanakert states that they [Stepanakert] are to decide. Actually, even if we want to surrender those territories, maybe we will not be allowed, as there are much bigger players,” said the political expert.
