“We know that there is a US-Russian confrontation. And as Putin-Serzh Sargsyan meeting is on the way, where it was stated that there would be a discussion of the Karabakh issue, it is clear that perhaps the American side might have nothing to do with it, and what are they doing-they are publishing a text, which has been in circulation in different modes for the past 5-6 years”, commenting on the statement on Karabakh conflict settlement made by US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Richard Hoagland, said Tevan Poghosyan, member of the 5th Convocation National Assembly, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, in an interview with Aravot.am.
He said that it was in the interest of the US for Hoagland to make such a statement. We must be wise and realize that these problems may have nothing to do with us.
According to him, the texts that are being published, can be considered dead: “All documents published up to now- stage version, package version, Madrid principles, etc.- when being published, the public expresses its opinion on them, and that’s it, everyone knows. We know that there is actually a phenomenon connected to Karabakh negotiation process that corresponds to the reality, which is that there should be mechanisms of trust on the agreements of Vienna and St. Petersburg, after which there will be negotiations. There have been no negotiations, Hoagland publishes a text, which might be just Hoagland’s imagination. Similarly, Hoagland could write Hollywood scenarios. Has Hoagland imagined a year ago that there would be an April aggression from Azerbaijan, and is he sure that there won’t be another aggression a year later? As there are no trust mechanism, what are we talking about? They have brought only an issue, to remind us about their existence”.
Tevan Poghosyan noted that there are several notices about confidence in the text published by Hoagland, and then a question arises, what confidence is that about? “Do we have confidence towards our opponent today? Can we arrange anything with Azerbaijan nowadays? In any case, these documents are not being implemented”.
According to Tevan Poghosyan, we should not deceive ourselves and be ready for the struggle of long-term generations: “The other side is not ready yet, I do not know what kind of resolution there should be, so that the other side’s generation is ready to take such steps, so that we can have confidence towards them. Every single day they inspire themselves that we are their enemies, that all Armenians are the enemies of the world, who must be killed, slaughtered, raped, and eradicated”.
Mr. Poghosyan mentioned that Hoagland’s statement raised a wave of dissatisfaction that existed in society: “We must tell Hoagland-you are neither the first nor the last co-chair, so you can do your brain-exercises. Whenever you come and say, we will take steps that promote democracy in society, build confidence, and help the societies to agree on and live together… now we are not able to conduct even public diplomacy with the Azerbaijani side, how can we even talk about other arrangements? What is Azerbaijani side going to do with the weapons they have bought, going to return?”.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
