Levon Ter-Petrosyan: Karabakh conflict settlement is in the offing 

ArmInfo.In an interview to the Armenian Public Television, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first president of Armenia and the leader of the Congress-People's Party of Armenia  pre- electoral bloc, said that the Karabakh conflict settlement is in the offing. 

Particularly, Ter-Petrosyan stated that he holds information 90% of  his opponents have no idea of. The matter concerns those blaming him  for defeatist sentiments and readiness for territorial concessions.   According to the first president, the major part of the OSCE Minsk  Group Co-Chairs' proposals is already agreed and 2-3 points are only  left. The problem will be completely resolved after consensus is  reached on these points. "I have suggested no decision, there is  already a plan based on the Madrid Principles, which is being  negotiated. There are no disagreements concerning the principles,  particularly, the points of return of the territories, non-use of  force, people's right to self-determination," he noted. At the same  time, the first president does not share the opinion that the  Karabakh problem is not being settled. In his opinion, the process is  going on, however each of the sides is trying to derive more  beneficial conditions for themselves.

The politician thinks that the settlement problem, which is currently  being discussed, is balanced enough and if the Armenian side  announces its willingness to sign the proposed document, then the  entire pressure of the international community will be directed  against Baku. Also he thinks that the Azerbaijani side is ready for  concessions, otherwise it would not participate in the negotiations. 

According to him, it is a favorable moment for settlement, which is  not being used yet. At the same time, the first president stated that  the authorities, in particular, Serzh Sargsyan is currently holding  the talks on the program based on the Madrid Principles, and he  supports him in this matter. 

"For 20 years brainwashing has been done and all those who spoke  about cession of territories were considered enemies and betrayers.  However, after me, Robert Kocharyan and now Serzh Sargyan have been  holding negotiations on the same document. What does it mean? It  means that only the authorities understands the necessity of to  accept the rules of international family, in particular, the  principles of inviolability of borders, territorial integrity, no  changes in the borders by means of force. We can call controlled  territories historical or sacred, however, for the international  community those territories are considered to be occupied, they do  not have these type of categories and our authorities have never used  these terms, because they would be a laughingstock in the eyes of the  international community," he pointed out. The first president added  that the settlement is the affair of the authorities elected by the  people. "It is the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan that should  demand settlement of the conflict and enforce them into  reconciliation," he said.