YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. "It is obvious that the policy of initiative has met with complete failure, causing much damage both to Armenia's international reputation and the opportunity of domestic unification," the member of ARF parliamentary faction Artsvik Minasian declared at the March 22 press conference. In his words, if the Armenian authorities now again try to rouse Turkey's interest in ratification of the protocols, it means that "they did not draw any lesson and grow wiser". A. Minasian noted that the unity of the Armenians worldwide is endangered today, and if the Armenian authorities do not see that, it means that they have no idea of national ideology. The ARF deputy called for withdrawal from the Armenian-Turkish process. A. Minasian considered the acceleration of the Karabakh conflict settlement as one of the negative consequences of the policy of initiative. By his forecast, it will lead either to solution not in favor of the Armenians or to the higher probability of war renewal. According to him, the statements of some foreign figures about not allowing Karabakh to return to the negotiation table are "situational opinions rather than system ones". In response to the question about why the ARF defends the second president of Armenia, during whose tenure Karabakh was removed from the negotiation process, A. Minasian replied that inappropriate speculation over this issue has begun. He added that under Robert Kocharian, the matter only concerned the competence of presenting the Karabakh problem, and the president actually had such competence. "Nagorno Karabakh was not forced out of the negotiation process, there was no policy of forcing it out," A. Minasian said.

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