NKR president’s spokesman responds to the RA defense ministry’s posture
“The enemy violates the ceasefire regime on the borders in every way, unfortunately, our enemy will continue to implement terrorism on the borders, but it always gets and will get an adequate response. In this sense, nothing will be changed from our side. The problem is to avoid having a large-scale hostilities. It also touches the interests of the international community,” said the NKR President’s Spokesman David Babayan in an interview with “Aravot”, referring to the specification of Armenia’s Defense Minister’s posture. Note that yesterday, Armenian Defense Ministry Spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan announced at the press conference, “This is a war. I would ask you to use the word “war” in the terminology and avoid using the word “ceasefire violations” because we essentially do not have ceasefire anymore.”
David Babayan considers this a new reality and says that we are at the threshold of a new round, and although he certifies that Artsakh remains convinced that the OSCE Minsk Group has done a good job in terms of maintaining peace and stability, he also states, “It is time to voice more earmarked statements. Moreover, the statements shall shift from rhetoric to practical phase and Azerbaijan shall bear responsibility for all it does. Since these mechanisms are not elaborated and are not practiced, Azerbaijan will violate the ceasefire more boldly. It’s true, Azerbaijan will not dare to launch a full-scale war, nevertheless, the international community must do more specific steps, up to imposing sanctions against Azerbaijan.”
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As in Yerevan so as in and Stepanakert, people do not have expectations from Serzh Sargsyan-Aliev meeting in Switzerland. But the fact that during the meeting of the presidents and the following days, Azerbaijani side did not refrain from provocations, David Babayan thinks that it should be a “message” to the international community. We asked whether the President of Nagorno-Karabakh had any conversation with the President of Armenia and whether he is aware of what Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev toasted. This was said the US Co-Chair James Warlick after the meeting of the presidents.
David Babayan noted that Armenia’s foreign minister has explained that there was no such a toast, adding, “Even if the co-chairs wanted to organize a small symbolic meeting around the table, then I have no doubt that the main topic would be the maintenance of peace and stability. I am more than sure that we are able to keep the peace, it is also evident. The RA President has also expressed his willingness for the peaceful settlement of the issue. But the Armenian side is in favor of the peaceful settlement of the issue not because they are weak or are afraid of, but because we have gone through the war and we do not want our people to suffer these hardships again. God forbid, but if a war breaks out, then, this time, the negotiation process will go not around Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement, but around Azerbaijan’s capitulation conditions.”
Nagorno-Karabakh people quite normally react to RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s, by some estimates, unprecedented and by some estimates tough speech at the CSTO. “This speech covered all important provisions, which we also frequently raise. I repeat, the enemy must understand that we are in favor of peace because our civilization is not aggressiveness and terroristic, which we see by the example of Azerbaijan and Turkey.” In the resolution of the CSTO session, however, there were no reservations in respect of the questions raised by President Serzh Sargsyan, moreover, it seems there were not responses from the CSTO member countries’ leaders. What does this hint on? What should the Armenian side do? In response to these questions, David Babayan replied, “Nothing. President Sargsyan’s statements were a message, there were Armenia’s approaches, but it does not mean that they necessarily have to be included in a document. If these approaches do exist and are voiced by the country leader, it means that it is Armenia’s stance and politics.”
Nelly GRIGORYAN, “Aravot” daily
