Co-chaired by Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan, the Security Councils of Armenia and Artsakh today held a joint sitting in Yerevan. The sitting was attended by Armenia and Artsakh Parliament Speakers Ararat Mirzoyan and Arthur Tovmasyan.
Before proceeding to the agenda, Nikol Pashinyan and Arayik Harutyunyan made speeches.
Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Pashinyan stated:
“Honorable President of the Artsakh Republic,
Distinguished Speakers of the National Assemblies of Armenia and Artsakh,
Dear SC members,
The 4th joint sitting of the Security Councils of Armenia and Artsakh is being held today in Yerevan. This is a well-established format to discuss various issues on our security agenda. Today’s sitting is conditioned by the fact that a new government and a new security council have been formed in Artsakh, and we need to get our Artsakh partners involved in this work as soon as possible.
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First of all, let me congratulate the members of the Artsakh Security Council on their appointment. The Security Council of Armenia also has new members, and they are also participating in this format for the first time. I congratulate them on this occasion, too.
I consider it important to make some observations on three groups of issues, which I would conditionally define as the participation of Artsakh in the negotiation process, our approaches to the substantive part of negotiations and the climate around the peace process.
During our joint sitting of December 23, 2019, I highlighted the planned national elections in Artsakh, which pursued three priority goals. First, to give the people of Artsakh a chance to elect authorities that would organize political and social life in the country by exercising their human rights. Second, to give the people of Artsakh the opportunity to elect authorities that entrusted with the task of ensuring their security. Of course, the Republic of Armenia will continue to support the Artsakh authorities in their commitment to protect the people of Artsakh, continuing to be the guarantor of Artsakh’s security. Third, as a result of the presidential and parliamentary elections, the people of Artsakh had to give a mandate to their authorities to represent Artsakh at the negotiating table.
Now that the election is over and the authorities have been formed, it must be stated that these three goals have been best achieved. Following competitive and democratic elections, Artsakh has a government, supposed to express the aspirations of the people of Artsakh for political reforms, economic and infrastructural development. A landmark process of consolidation of political forces was underway in parallel to the formation of the new government. To my firm belief, this went a long way toward strengthening Artsakh’s security.
And finally, the elections underscored the role of the people of Artsakh and the government elected by them in the peace process. It is obvious that No significant progress can be achieved in negotiations without full involvement of Artsakh authorities, since progress implies ability to possibly reach and implement the best agreements.
The involvement of NKR authorities in the substantive part of negotiations is an objective necessity, the avoidance of which will prolong the already protracted conflict. It is obvious that the parties to the conflict adhere to different positions on a number of key issues, and to be honest, it is much easier to state the points on which we do not agree with Azerbaijan rather than the ones we can agree upon. There are many reasons for such a situation, but if we try to generalize them for a moment, it becomes clear that we are facing two main problems.
I have already mentioned the first issue, it refers to the reluctance of the current Azerbaijani authorities to negotiate with the Artsakh authorities.
Why am I emphasizing the current situation, because there are people in this hall who have not only negotiated, but also signed documents with the former, or rather the then authorities of Azerbaijan, during the presidency of Heydar Aliyev?
Second, Azerbaijan keeps to a maximalist approach and considers the peace process as a means to achieve its goals step by step. In other words, it is not the right way to reach a compromise, but a means of gradually fulfilling all its demands. It is a journey to nowhere: the negotiation process is not a concert on demand with one or two breaks; a peace process implies willingness to reach a compromise and comprehensive solutions.
In view of the above, I put forward a formula according to which the settlement of the Artsakh issue should be acceptable to the people of Karabakh, to the people of Armenia and to the people of Azerbaijan. This formula is nothing more than a proposal to accept compromise. Please note, I mean an offer to accept the opportunity, not a specific compromise, which is still far from being justified by the reasons I have mentioned.
By not accepting my offer, the President of Azerbaijan does not accept any compromise. And so it is obvious that we cannot expect real progress in the negotiation process with approaches like that, especially as they are accompanied by threats of war or direct or indirect territorial claims to the Armenian people.
I am convinced that the attempts to turn the Karabakh conflict into an everlasting large-scale Armenian-Azerbaijani enmity, where our peoples have to dispute everything – the past, the present, the future and the whole region – are not in the interests of either the Armenian or Azerbaijani people.
The ruling issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the case of Ramil Safarov condemned the hate crimes committed against Armenians in Azerbaijan. The ECHR’s ruling should draw clear-cut red lines for Azerbaijan: red lines that are being observed not only by Armenia and the Armenian people, but also by the international community.
We recently witnessed that the President of Azerbaijan likes to talk about history. I would also like to express my opinion with some historical regularity. Throughout its history, that is, for the last 100 years, Azerbaijan has been subjected to two major trials: in April 1920, when Azerbaijan lost the statehood it had acquired two years ago, and in June 1993, when Azerbaijan was on the verge of loosing the statehood it had regained two years earlier, which reminds us today of the existence of the Day of National Salvation of Azerbaijanis, which by the way was celebrated a few days ago.
The above two statehood tests for Azerbaijan came in the wake of wars waged against Artsakh. It is clear that both in the early 1920s and early 1990s, Azerbaijan overestimated its capabilities and underestimated the devastating consequences of the war. I am far from thinking that what is bad for Azerbaijan is good for Armenia and Artsakh. The loss of Azerbaijan’s statehood in 1920 did not give us Armenians anything. And more importantly, Armenia and Artsakh managed to establish a ceasefire with Azerbaijan in 1994, to put an end to the war and stabilize the situation in the region.
The joint security system of Armenia and Artsakh is more than capable of protecting the security of the Armenian people in every part of our homeland. The use of force will not go unnoticed, and it will always be retaliated adequately, both militarily and politically.
President Ilham Aliyev realizes in fact that he has driven himself to a deadlock. For more than 15 years, he has promised his people a military solution to the Karabakh conflict. He has spent billions of dollars, which often resulted in money laundering as the bulk of that money eventually went to offshore accounts belonging to well-known persons.
And now he cannot explain to his own people why the reality is as it is. He understands that another military adventure may lead to irreversible losses for Azerbaijan, and to the destruction of his anti-popular power.
And to divert people’s attention, to get out of this impasse, he winds up his warlike rhetoric in an effort to make up for past failures with new and more absurd promises about the future.
Recently, the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” initiative was launched with the guidance of Azerbaijan’s special services. By saying “Western Azerbaijan” they obviously mean the Republic of Armenia. Azerbaijan’s regional policy thereby becomes more complete, and the absurd initiative of “Western Azerbaijan” comes to substitute the ridiculous series of the so-called “southern, northern, north-western Azeris,” which highlights Azerbaijan’s destabilizing aspirations in the context of the entire region.
But I want to emphasize that by saying stability and security in the conflict zone, we are in fact talking about security and stability in our region, and in this respect, Armenia takes up the role of security guarantor not only in the Karabakh conflict zone, but in the region, as a whole. I think we need to take a special responsibility in this regard; we need to get stronger and refrain from echoing Azerbaijan’s meaningless provocations.
At a time when our peoples are struggling with a global challenge – the novel coronavirus – we must call for an end to hostile propaganda. Whether we like it or not, history and geography have made us neighbors, and we must start from the simple truth that our peoples are equal, they cannot be overruled by one another and must dispose of their destiny according to their will, the right to self-determination. By acknowledging our equality we will prepare our peoples for peace and will lay a solid foundation for sustainable development in our region. Thank you.”
President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan stated in his remarks:
“Honorable Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia,
Distinguished members of the Security Councils of the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic,
As this is my first-ever attendance of a joint sitting of the Security Councils of the Republic of Armenia and the Artsakh Republic, I would like to welcome this already traditional event. It is the most important platform for exchanging views on the ways to solve the security problems facing our united homeland and the Armenian nation in general, combining approaches and efforts.
The first achievements of this type of work are already noticeable, and I am sure that the achievements will multiply over time to raise the level of Homeland’s security.
Today, the united Armenian homeland is facing unprecedented security challenges, which is primarily due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus, and uncertainty itself is the main security threat everywhere.
Among the long-term risks that have become commonplace, we must now not only effectively protect public life and health, but also to neutralize external risks in all areas. From that point of view, I consider it important for all of us to do a harmonious and well-concerted work.
While combating the invisible threat of the coronavirus, we must not weaken our vigilance, especially against the visible danger posed by Azerbaijan. For many decades, the Azerbaijani authorities have posed an existential threat not only to Artsakh but to the entire population of Armenia.
By advocating the principle of an exclusively peaceful settlement for the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, we are at the same time forced to be ready for war. Being an integral part of a single homeland and the same security system, the Republic of Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia fully share the approaches and efforts to achieve peace and prepare for war. It means joint efforts to continuously improve our military potential, develop socio-economic capabilities, use a wide range of foreign policy tools to properly protect the rights and interests of the Armenian people, and, why not, to ensure information or psychological security.
Food and energy safety is one of the main pillars of our security interaction system, where achievements are significant, but there is always new work to be done in parallel with the dynamic change in our environmental goals and opportunities.
Our task is to provide as much self-sufficient and flexible food and energy system as possible for all situations to ensure the strength and stability of military and socio-economic security.
In this and a number of other respects, infrastructure is of strategic importance, and I am glad that we are already launching the construction of the third highway connecting Artsakh with Mother Armenia.
Dear attendees,
In short, the Republics of Armenia and the Republic of Armenia or the United Armenian Homeland have the task of continuously improving its strategic resilience and impact in the current security environment so that it can effectively counter multifaceted, multilayered and strategic challenges. This responsible function is placed primarily on the structures included in the Security Councils, so we must use effective measures and methods to live up to our noble mission of national importance. I wish all of us good work and good luck.”
INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME-MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA