People displaced from Artsakh protested in front of the government building last week. “We have angry people who are ready to attack Azerbaijan. Solve the problems with temporary housing. I am not saying that you’ll give me a home and I’ll lay around idly. No. Let our wives and our daughters know that they have a roof over their heads. Any man you point to and say that we are going to fight will come because an Armenian man can not tolerate defeat by a cowardly Turk. The army did not lose, the political leadership lost,” said Ashot Harutyunyan, the director of the Shushi History Museum, which was displaced from Artsakh, to reporters in front of the government building. In response to the question of if he demands Artsakh’s status or unification, Ashot Harutyunyan answered, “In all the rallies since 1988, the conversation has been about “unification.”
God was with us when we wanted to unite. But when we suddenly started playing some political games, we went on the path of independence, and God was upset with us. Did he say to become independent from your nation? We are the same nation, we said unification, we had to fight for unification.
We had the decision of the Supreme Council on the unification of Armenia and Artsakh. What was done after that was a pure betrayal of our national movement. The solution is to unite, and you can achieve that however you please. But in today’s conditions, we have difficulty organizing something armed in Artsakh because the residents live there at a high risk. They only said that the Russians are your guarantee. Let’s say I am Russian, and I get up and leave. I have nothing against the Russians, but I have his example: they abandoned us twice. I know this and I also know that at any moment, they can leave again.
They say no, they came to stay here. It is clear, but at what expense should they live- at our expense? We are told to come to Karabakh. It’s not that their hearts burn for us like pomegranates. No, they just have to introduce the population to the Russians so the Russians can say that they have come to protect so many people. When the population is small, it moves to a completely different level. Azerbaijan can say, leave, I will solve those 25 thousand issues. The future solution is to unite, there is no other way. We misused 30 years of independence. Artsakh was a powerful regional factor, but we lost everything to Azerbaijan in 30 years. Azerbaijan came and passed us.”
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Ashot Harutyunyan urged the government to eliminate the former-present game. “Enough. That game no longer appeals to anyone. We have one game – a game against Azerbaijan. Today, Azerbaijan openly declares that it will expel the Armenians, or the Armenians must accept Azerbaijani citizenship. Russia’s peacekeeping forces are not enough to ensure the security of the whole of Armenia. That is why Armenia has the right to apply to the other OSCE members, France and the United States. We are not in a conflict with Russia, but we are saying to them that other peacekeeping forces should stay wherever they claim is Azerbaijani land because it turns out that you are with Azerbaijan if you have such discussions. In this case, it is Meghri. We must not allow the presence of only Russian troops in the Meghri area. There must be American and French troops, and we must apply to the UN to have a Chinese peacekeeping force there. We just have to play well. Diplomats should work, not sleep on the couch.”
Hripsime Jebejyan
