“Does the government accept that it failed famous football diplomacy between Armenia and Turkey,” Nikol Pashinyan, an Armenian National Congress (ANC) asked Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandyan this question during a discussion on the draft budget of 2013. In response, the latter started to talk about how many phone calls from different international organizations, expressions of gratitude he had received after that, “For the first time in its history, Armenia talked with Turkey as an equal. There was no country that didn’t express its support for the steps taken by the Armenian side. Even the US, not only the US, the Russian Federation, the European Union and other countries stated what they stated that Armenia had made its move, it was Turkey’s turn to make its, that the ball was in their court.”
Armen Rustamyan, the leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) parliamentary group, described these explanations of Edward Nalbandyan as naivety during a conversation with www.aravot.am on this subject, “It is in the interest of all international organizations, they would call because of that, who doubts it? Certainly, if we concede, the rest will use that, who uses, who benefits expresses his gratitude; it is simple, isn’t it? Here everyone benefits, except for us. If Edward Nalbandyan thinks of it, those phone calls as a great achievement, then even if we concede Karabakh to Azerbaijan, everyone will applaud, everyone will be happy. There will be no one, except for Armenia, who will say what a big mistake Armenia has made. They will say how generous and farsighted we are, we have gone for making friends with the enemy, bravo. This is a good example for everyone. That’s what they had to say. What else did they have to say?”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
