“This government has no mandate to leave Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. If it wants to prove to us that it does, let it hold a referendum to prove it. It should not try to sign any document. It will not have a legal basis, and it will never be implemented,” said Avetik Chalabyan, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the ARAR Foundation and a public figure, in a conversation with journalists at the RA National Assembly on April 4. He also took part in a rally organized by the 5165 Movement. The protesters demanded that the Armenian parliament recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh. In his speech, Avetik Chalabyan touched upon the question of whether we are not provoking a new war by demanding Artsakh’s independence.
“We were in Artsakh recently, we know the situation. If we do not take direct control of Artsakh with our actions, we may not have Artsakh at all in a few months, because the people who live there will come to the realization that Armenia is handing Artsakh over. And we are Armenia,” he said. Avetik Chalabyan assures that if we stand up today, we can reverse the process because it is not the case that the whole world is against us, but everyone asks a question. “Armenia, what do you want, you Armenian people, what do you want to do? Do you own your homeland or do you own the beer of cafes? Which is better for you – beer and sausage or your historical homeland?”
Avetik Chalabyan considers the demand for the recognition of Artsakh still a bit late, he thinks that Armenia should have recognized the Republic of Artsakh on September 27, 2020. Moreover, we should have recognized Artsakh’s independence in 2016 and left the false agenda of negotiations with Azerbaijan, as Azerbaijan used the negotiation process to break our backbone. “Today we are at the last resort, if we lose the Armenian presence in Artsakh, we can not recognize anything,” Avetik Chalabyan assures.
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Nelly GRIGORYAN
