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Panorama.am interviewed Karen Bekaryan, the chairman of «European Integration» NGO, to talk about the Nagorno Karabakh peace process, the recent statement by President Serzh Sargsyan about the upcoming Presidential elections in Azerbaijan and the elections itself.

-- Mr Bekaryan, President Sargsyan has recently spoken about the upcoming Presidential elections in Azerbaijan and made a statement that despite Armenia would appreciate to have a democratic neighbor, still for the sake of Nagorno Karabakh peace process it would be most beneficial if Ilham Aliyev won the elections. Can you comment on that, please?
-- I would not tie that statement to any political reasons, but more like the human factors. I don’t think the President wanted to transmit any political message with that statement. This is more like a heartfelt attitude towards the peace process by one of three leaders of these conflicting sides.

-- How would you comment on the reaction of Azeri side?
-- The reactions were absurd. In a negative sense, those reactions contained more election campaign logics, in some cases human cynicism, willingness to be more Catholic than the Pope, than adequate thinking or reason. Of course, that was not something unexpectable. We have seen those kind of reactions from Azerbaijan a lot. That’s abnormal, it’s a pity and all that shows that nothing changes. I would ask the man who spoke as the Head of External relations department of Administration of the President of Azerbaijan, how he might feel after his own stupid remarks when his President meets the Armenian President in a tête-à-tête meeting. After all, politics bears the issues of culture of etiquette.

-- Lets turn to the forthcoming presidential elections in Azerbaijan. Are there any preconditions that Nagorno Karabakh peace process may be activated after the elections? It is largely considered that the process has slowed down and we face a deadlock.
-- We can testify that there are quite interesting realities surfacing in Azerbaijan regarding the logics and sentiments of this campaign. To what extent the Karabakh issue is articulated in the campaign? Not so much now. I cannot exclude that it will be discussed more actively after the elections campaign platforms are published.

It is a myth that the Azeri people want a war. As any other nation, they do not want a war either. We always suggest that the ruling clan and the people in Azerbaijan shall be separated.

The next crucial thing is that, regardless of the real chances of the candidates, let's wait and see what does Mr Ibrahimbekov, who is likely the leading opposition candidate, say about the Karabakh issue. This campaign, regardless of the results, will inevitably have a few important impulses. The society has matured to the extent that it well understands that the authorities has been solving some other challenges through the exploitation of the Karabakh issue. I dont have any particular reasons for being optimistic towards the authorities in Azerbaijan, yet I want to see some ground for optimism with regards to the Azeri people and the society, and I think we will witness those grounds.