“After November 9, the goal was to come to an agreement with Azerbaijan and to negotiate from a weak position. When Pashinyan says we have no alternative, it means that he can not say no,” said Artur Martirosyan, a negotiation specialist, during a discussion at the Article 3 Club. According to him, if you have no alternative, then you should do what the other side wants and what is on the table. In his opinion, the current government is a very weak, incompetent negotiator. ”
At the tactical level, they are incompetent negotiators. It will not work to make a fuss, both in internal and external negotiations. Strategic negotiations must have an alternative off the table so that you can say no. Nikol Pashinyan is leading the country to ruin. They have already washed their hands of Artsakh. They want to convince us that more than thirty years of struggle and negotiations were meaningless.” The negotiations expert also touched upon the question of whether it is possible to negotiate for peace from a weak position.
“It is impossible to achieve peace by negotiating from a weak position and making concessions. The Turkish and Azerbaijani sides, having all the levers, will include clauses in the agreement that will allow both sides to use military levers to put pressure on Armenia and Artsakh to get more.” Speaking about Nikol Pashinyan’s statements, Artur Martirosyan said, “If he thinks that Karvachar should be Kelbajar, then why does he not suppose that Azerbaijan can also demand that Sevan become Gokcha and Yerevan become Erivan?”
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Referring to security issues, particularly negotiations with the West, Artur Martirosyan said, “Why are you negotiating with the EU? The EU can not offer any security guarantees. They have non-military capabilities. What are you negotiating with the EU? It is clear that he is negotiating the so-called peace dividends. We heard the EU assessments that they called a speech leading to foresight and deep peace. It was a very operative response.”
It is clear for Artur Martirosyan that the EU is interested in these developments based on its interests, not on principles. “When Mr. Pashinyan says ‘international community,’ it is a misunderstanding. There is no international community at the moment, especially after the Russian-Ukrainian war. In this situation, to hope that the EU will act according to their stated values is a misunderstanding. In that case, they would not put the corrupt, authoritarian sultan at the same table with the democrat Pashinyan.
So values are not important to them, interests are important. At the moment, the EU has an alternative: it has strengthened its energy ties with Russia, so it must zero in on the flow to the south, Anatolia, and the Adriatic corridors. Aliyev can satisfy that interest better. Armenia can not do that. They will just use Armenia to satisfy their interests.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
