13:04, 20 March 2014

Crimea's accession to Russia cannot directly affect Karabakh settlement, Yerevan experts believe

Participants of the rally in support of Crimea joining Russia. Nalchik, March 18, 2014. Photo by Lyudmila Maratova for the ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Armenian experts disagree on the possible analogy of the situation in the Crimea with Nagorno-Karabakh.

Sergey Minasyan, Deputy Director of the Institute of the Caucasus, said that the Crimean factor cannot affect the Karabakh issue, but geopolitical changes in the former Soviet space are inevitable.

Arman Melikyan, a political scientist and Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh, indicates different aims of the referendum held in the Crimea and Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The Crimean referendum did not raise the independence issue, but initially focused citizens on transfer to Russia, while the Artsakh one was a referendum on independence," said Melikyan.

According to his version, today as a result of events in Ukraine, favourable conditions are in place for the United States with partners and Russia to recognize the legitimacy of Nagorno-Karabakh's independence, although they disagree on the Crimean referendum.

Author: Armine Martirosyan

Source: CK correspondent