At a press conference held earlier today, ARF Political Affairs Coordinator Giro Manoyan said that it's likely that an agreement of principles regarding the settlement of the Karabakh conflict would be signed this year that isn't in the best interests of either Armenia or Karabakh.

The ARF official, who also heads the party's "Hay Tad" office, said that such an agreement wouldn’t immediately be put into practice. "It would be an agreement on various principles. It would have to be transformed into a legal document afterwards, which might take years. But even if it isn’t immediately implemented it doesn't mean that it would have negative repercussions especially if it talks about the territories and uses the administrative borders of Soviet Karabakh and not the ones we have today." Mr. Manoyan also expressed the concern that even while Azerbaijan isn't mentioning the independence of Karabakh, the Armenian side is showing a willingness to make certain concessions and to return territories. The whole process, in his view, and the recent statements of Turkish PM Erdogan in Azerbaijan will only permit Baku to toughen its positions. In the view of the ARF official, the Armenian side is faced with the task of salvaging what it now has and thus it is impossible to take measures that can undermine the present state of affairs.