Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – An Armenian party leader has said international mediators intend to offer Yerevan to pull out of the occupied Azerbaijani territories in exchange for economic benefits.

The leader of opposition New Times party Aram Karapetyan said the West is likely to offer "Zurich 2" to Armenia, referring to its 2009 accords with Turkey to normalize their strained relations.

"The proof of that is [the recent] visit by the Armenian National Assembly chairman Ovik Abrahamyan to Switzerland. In the Zurich 2 format, Armenia will be offered to surrender the regions, reopen the border [with Turkey] and receive money for this," Karapetyan told reporters.

Parliament Speaker Abrahamyan held talks with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey in Bern Thursday, as Switzerland stepped up effort to assist in the fence-mending process between Turkey and Armenia.

Turkey and Armenia have been at odds for decades and their shared border has been shut since 1993 due to Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territory and Armenian claims on mass killings of their ancestors by Ottoman Turks. In October 2009, in Zurich, the two governments signed agreements to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their borders. Turkey has assured Azerbaijan, its ally, that the protocols will not pass in its parliament until progress is made in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. This April, Yerevan suspended parliamentary approval of the deals.

Karapetyan also said there could be turning points in Karabakh settlement before the next parliamentary and presidential elections.

"In the first case-scenario, the sides may be prompted to sign an accord. In the second one, Azerbaijan could achieve changes in the principles of the OSCE Minsk Group’s work, and Turkey or Iran may be included in the MG. But this change would mean a return of the so-called occupied territories."

Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory since the early 1990s. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but efforts by international mediators have been largely fruitless so far.