Recently, in a live stream on Telegram, answering citizens’ questions, RPA Deputy Chairman Armen Ashotyan spoke about why the RPA did not recognize Artsakh’s independence during its administration.
Armen Ashotyan explained that negotiations were taking place within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group: if Armenia recognized Artsakh’s independence at that time, then a war would start, Armenia would be wrong in the eyes of the world, and the Minsk Group and negotiations would fail. And why the RPA government didn’t do that during the Four-Day War in 2016, Armen Ashotyan reminded that then, on the third day of the war, Serzh Sargsyan invited the ambassadors of the OSCE member states accredited to Armenia and said that if the war continues for a few more days, we will recognize Artsakh. One and a half days later, the war ended.
According to Armen Ashotyan, the war ended due to the will and endurance of our army and soldiers, but also this diplomatic step of President Serzh Sargsyan had a great impact. The speaker noted that during the 44-day war, the RA government had several legitimate opportunities to recognize Artsakh. These were the times when Azerbaijan was violating the three ceasefire agreements reached with the intervention of the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group member states. In his opinion, if Nikol Pashinyan had recognized the independence of Artsakh then, we would have a recognized Artsakh now, we would not have the current situation where Nikol tries to hand over to Azerbaijan with the help of the Minsk Group what he did not hand over within 44 days. This is regarding the 5 proposals submitted by Azerbaijan to normalize relations with Armenia, about which Armenia applied to the Minsk Group with a request to start negotiations.
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Nelly GRIGORYAN
