“Zhamanak” looks at implications of U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The paper says the Israeli government has responded to the move by unveiling plans to build more Jewish settlements there. It says this policy should serve as an example for Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev responded to Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan when he said that his country’s war with Armenia never ended. “He didn’t say anything new,” comments the paper. “Of course the war is not over and we have known that for a long time. This is why everyone in Armenia now speaks about lessons of the April [2016] war and what steps are needed to avert a repeat of it. But sadly, instead of finding a joint solution as a result of these discussions, political forces and expert circles are trying to use this topic for their parochial interests or the needs of their sponsors.” In particular, the pro-government paper says, any attempt to discuss the Armenian military’s shortcomings in April 2016 is immediately branded as a desire to persecute Armenia’s former leadership.
“Zhoghovurd” says that one of the purposes of periodical joint statements made by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group is to test Armenian and Azerbaijani public reactions to them. The paper says the mediators specifically want to see how prepared Armenians and Azerbaijanis are for peaceful settlements proposed by them. “In this regard, it is very important to raise the publics’ awareness of the current phase of the negotiating process to a proper level.”
Vladimir Kazimirov, Russia’s chief Karabakh negotiator in 1992-1996, tells “168 Zham” that a renewed full-scale war in Karabakh is not likely. “But [shooting] incidents happen and they may continue,” says Kazimirov. “The party that is interested in them may want to test its forces as it did in April 2016. Such incidents may happen again. But I don’t think that the conflicting parties are interested in the resumption of a big war. One of the parties always threatens to use force. But this [threat] is primarily addressed to its own people.”
(Sargis Harutyunyan)
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