“What is written in the Russian and Azerbaijani press fits into the draft of the Madrid principles which was amended in Kazan in 2011. It’s hard to say what documents Lavrov will bring with him because I do not think that it would be the only one. Mainly they talk about it but it seems to me that it is going to be a little different document,” – said “Heritage” party MP Ruben Hakobyan in an interview with Aravot.am, referring to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s upcoming visit to Armenia and the proposals that will be presented by the Russian side. After the 4-day war, the next active phase of intensive negotiations on the peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh has been kicked off in the Minsk Group format but the initiative is in the hands of Russia. The Russian press, unofficially, wrote that the issue of the return of liberated territories is put on the negotiation table. The Armenian side, in its turn, argues that the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh should be recognized for it. Russian Foreign Minister is already in Baku. At the press conference of the tripartite meeting with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Iran, Lavrov said that all the components of the agreement for the settlement are laid on the table, it remains only to clarify the wording. Ruben Hakobyan notes that the Azerbaijani media is more loyal these days whereas in 2011 when the Madrid principles were put into circulation, the Azerbaijani responses were negative. While in Kazan, Azerbaijan completely denied the amended version of the Madrid principles. “Therefore, I’ll be a little abstained to forecast what document will Lavrov bring with him. Let us wait a day or two but it is possible for the document to be unknown as the 90 percent of diplomacy are behind-the-stage talks. One thing is clear to me as a citizen and a man in politics: number one task is the security of Artsakh and you cannot ensure the security with Smerches, Iskanders and drones. There is one way for it: to become a subject of international law. The Artsakh’s recognition,” – said Ruben Hakobyan, adding that especially now when we learned whom we are dealing with.
The 4-day war also gave rise to serious analysis and some concerns with Ruben Hakobyan. He considers the following to be the first and the most important one, “I do not accept this widespread dissatisfaction by the countries, be it a strategic ally or not, I do not accept. It is not a politics and has nothing to do with the politics. We must understand that each government and state is guided by its state and national interests. If we are not going to take this into account and say, why they should not protect use, then, we really do not understand what challenges exist today.”
Being a member of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, our interlocutor said that he has always seen the reality that Azerbaijan, not being a CSTO or an EaEU member, always had the majority in these structures. Meanwhile, we are still in the minority in both structure, “We should not complain but to clearly understand that it is so and start taking actions. Russia has never mentioned Azerbaijan to be its strategic ally as in these few days. In other words, we are dealing with a reality when our opponent, if not an enemy, has not only the majority in these structures but our main strategic ally does not lose the moment to say, my two strategic allies are enemies today. We should also note that the sale of arms if we say a business we reduce the risk, we do not feel its full danger. There is an element of business but it is mainly political: it keeps the state under its influence by selling weapons. This is a common thing. We need to understand this too. And thirdly, the Armenian soldier become a political factor today. Everyone knows what happened, who started the attack, but since it is a double standard, no one wished to separate the victim from the executioner. This is what their national and regional interest requires.” Under this context, our interlocutor considers that the number one task of Armenia is ensuring its security by the examples of Israel and Switzerland, which though are quite different but their experience is instructive. “Over 25 years we did not realize that our being protected must be the pledge of our security. It is not from the sphere of romance. We can ensure our protectiveness. Now, a day before we must do it, especially since Azerbaijan ignored the 1994 ceasefire agreement nor the words of Minsk Group or the West. Azerbaijan realized that the military balance is broken and entered. It simply got it and entered,” – says Ruben Hakobyan stating that at least now we should convince ourselves that as much as we get use of the Armenian-Russian multifaceted relations so as Russia for its only constant ally in the region is Armenia, “Simply, we sometimes do not differ partnership from vassalage. Politics is also a field of speculation. If you are not able to present yourself the way it should go, naturally, they will speculate.” In this context, Ruben Hakobyan reminded his speech at the RA Parliament during the debates on EaEU accession agreement when he was urging for at least 30-40 MPs to vote “against”. He tells that he has met even with the NA President Galust Sahakyan urging him not to convince and compel the opposition members to vote “in favor of” as it can be a dividend in the hands of the RA authorities. Galust Sahakyan has honestly said that no urging was addressed to anyone. Ruben Hakobyan noted for himself that some opposition members just want to show Russia that they can serve better than the current government. I am sorry for it and I am certain that not only the government but also the opposition has a lot to do now.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
