Davit Harutyunyan about James Warlick’s statement
“Today, I’m leaving for Washington to meet with the OSCE co-chairs to discuss the next steps of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peaceful settlement. The status quo is becoming increasingly dangerous,” recently such a post was made by OSCE Minsk Group American Co-Chair James Warlick on Twitter. Aravot.am asked the Minister-Chief of RA Government Staff, Davit Harutyunyan, how dangerous the status quo is, and why the co-chairs were still considering the maintenance of the status quo an achievement, but now they see a threat in it. “The status quo is violated by Azerbaijan. Any violations and abuses of status quo, of course, is dangerous. But they are dangerous for both sides, and I would not want any one perceive it as a threat directed towards Armenia,” said Davit Harutyunyan, adding that it is also dangerous the armed forces standing on both sides of the border. As for changing the status quo, our interlocutor noted, “Changing the status quo is not an end in itself. Properly solving this conflict is an end in itself.” By saying “properly,” Davit Harutyunyan is referring to the three most important principles that have long been known and accepted by the co-chairs as a guideline. Recently, in Russian political circles, rumors about deployment of peacekeepers on Karabakh-Azerbaijani contact line have been re-activated. Davit Harutyunyan, currently, does not see this kind of problem. Moreover. “This is actually a solution to démarche of one side, and I do not think that any démarche should be solved exactly in this way. I think that it would be correct for the international community to intensify the demand of the answer to these three questions from Azerbaijan authorities.” Recently, Director General of EurAsEC institute, Vladimir Lepyokhin, announced that the American side, using the Karabakh conflict, is trying to create a chaotic situation in Armenia. To the question of Aravot.am of whether there is something like this, the Minister-chief of RA Government Staff said, “At least, I have never felt an attempt of creating chaos in Armenia by someone. Even if such attempts are made by anybody, I do not think that our society does not realize it and its danger for the security of Armenia and Karabakh.” To the question of how possible the resumption of hostilities in Karabakh-Azerbaijani contact line is in geopolitical developments with an intention to solve the issue unilaterally, Davit Harutyunyan said that he does not consider the resumption of large-scale military actions possible, but it does not mean that we should not be ready for it. “Being prepared makes the possibility of it zero.”
NELLY GRIGORYAN
