During an episode of ‘Interview with Petros Ghazaryan,’ the host reminded first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian of Robert Kocharyan’s statement on how it will be possible to liberate Hadrut and Shushi. “You see, this is already a great achievement. When such a thing was offered in our time- to preserve Shushi and Hadrut and the borders of the NKAO, and to have a corridor with Armenia, they considered it betrayal. Now he agrees with that in retrospect; he dreams about it. That can cause problems for us,” Ter-Petrossian said in response. The president continued by asking how it will be possible to return Shushi and Hadrut if there are currently Azeri troops in those towns. “And Azerbaijan is going to quietly gather its belongings and leave? That will only be possible through war.
In other words, Robert Kocharyan promised a new war, new casualties, new blood, and new losses to Armenia and the Armenian people. That is what he is saying. Who will let that happen? Azerbaijan did not come there so it can calmly leave. Who will force it to- Russia? That cannot happen. The entire world considers Nagorno-Karabakh to be part of Azerbaijan. Those people came and partially restored their territorial integrity. Another part is in the hands of the Russian peacekeepers. And who is complaining about that? No one.
Did anyone condemn Azerbaijan for its capture? Yes, some people condemned Azerbaijan for humanitarian reasons. Ensuring territorial integrity is in line with the UN Charter.” In response to Petros Ghazaryan’s question of whether Armenia must agree to Aliyev saying that Artsakh should be recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and we will establish a friendship and reconciliation agreement, Ter-Petrossian responded, “Don’t agree to it. The whole world will force us to agree to it no matter how much we refuse to. If we don’t agree, we will face more problems. The UN law is that the reason for the UN’s existence is the principle of territorial integrity of all states. All large states can allow themselves to violate these laws, as we say in Iraq… they go wherever they want to and do as they please. But when Saddam went and captured Kuwait, they lost all of Iraq.”
Nelly Babayan
