This week the opposition Heritage party came up with a statement in connection with the so-called Meiendorf declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh signed by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia outside the Russian capital Moscow earlier this month.

Heritage thinks that the declaration serves the interest of superpowers at the expense of Armenia and Karabakh as it reaffirms the so-called Madrid principles of settlement that the party says are unacceptable. Heritage deems that these principles contain provisions for a unilateral land concession and return of refugees and a delayed status for Karabakh. Meanwhile, it says, everything must be reciprocal.

The party is worried that the declaration diminishes the influence of the OSCE Minsk Group and demands that the authorities discuss and return to the format of the Minsk Group, ensure Karabakh’s participation in the negotiating process, as well as disclose and make a subject of public discussion the contents of the Madrid principles presented to the parties in the Spanish capital late last year.

Heritage Board chairperson Anahit Bakhshyan says that they oppose unilateral territorial concessions.

“We propose a swap – say Aghdam for Shahumyan, since we lost Shahumyan and refugees from there do not have an opportunity to live in their native land. If Azerbaijan raises the question of the return of refugees, then Armenia must also raise the same issue, up to the return of [Armenian] refugees to Baku,” she says.

Heritage shares the manner of action adopted by the main opposition that suspended large-scale anti-government protests to allow the authorities to engage in the Karabakh issue in a calm way. But if it alleges that the authorities do not make a proper use of this opportunity, as Heritage’s spokesman Hovsep Khurshudyan says, the party will come up with much stricter evaluations and will also demand the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan.

“Other political forces have also made pronouncements against the Moscow declaration and they are ready to take to the street in demonstrations if there is an accord,” says Bakhshyan.

Still last year the party came up with a legislative initiative in parliament to recognize [the independence of] Karabakh, which, however, was effectively rejected by the parliament majority. Spokesman Khurshudyan says that the issue remains on the Heritage agenda.

In an interview with the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper President Sargsyan said, responding to the question about the recognition of Karabakh’s independence, that the Armenian side believes recognition is the last step in the process.

“We are not strong enough to say that we will unilaterally recognize Karabakh and that’s it, end of story,” said Sargsyan.

In the same interview, the Armenian leader said that the signing of the Moscow declaration rules out a military solution to the problem.

“The matter, however, concerns a declaration, and we would be very glad to sign an agreement. But I would not want to underestimate the role of this document. I am satisfied that Azerbaijan signed a document that assumes all principles of international law as a basis for a solution to the conflict and not only the principle of territorial integrity. It is also good that once again the role of the Minsk Group was emphasized after numerous recent debates over the Group’s activities,” he said.

To the question whether there is sure readiness for withdrawing troops from the areas surrounding Karabakh proper, Sargsyan said: “The core of the conflict is the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan must recognize the right of Karabakh’s population to self-determination. When this problem is solved, other steps will follow. The control over territories is not an end in itself for us, but is aimed at ensuring Karabakh’s security. Now we need to negotiate the principles of settlement and then a basic peace accord. We still have a long way ahead.”

In a recent interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Nagorno-Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan called for his unrecognized republic’s more active involvement in the peace process in which case Karabakh authorities will be able to express their viewpoint regarding the Madrid principles. “Generally we see our participation in the negotiating process after which we will be able to address the whole package under discussion.”

Sahakyan said that they have their standpoint, but being deprived of the status of a full party to the talks, cannot express it.

“When we speak about one principle or another, be it the so-called Madrid principles or any others, we realize that all principles must first of all be agreed with Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities,” the Karabakh leader said.

Senior member of the opposition Social-Democratic Hunchak Party, former deputy defense minister Vahan Shirkhanyan thinks that the people and authorities of Karabakh must present their clear standpoint on the proposals currently on the table for a solution. At the same time, he is certain that the people of Armenia and Karabakh will not allow Armenian authorities, which currently go down the road of accepting the current proposals, to sign any document on that regard. According to him, with this document the international community is laying a landmine in the Caucasus that can explode any time.

“If the settlement happens on the basis of the current proposal, there will be a war that will be fiercer than the first one. Thus, the international community will not be content with that alone, and it will turn the Caucasus into a region resembling the zone of the permanent Arab-Israeli conflict, which will meet the interests of superpowers,” he said.