“Tolerant and humorous.” This is how Artak Bshtikyan, former adviser to the Minister of Defense, refers to the assessment of the first President of the Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian as a “Terrible Manifesto.”
He is a member of the initiative group of the statement “The fate of the Artsakh Republic is a national responsibility,” which was joined by several dozen figures, including former Foreign Ministers Raffi Hovannisian, Vartan Oskanian (Ara Ayvazyan), other diplomats, academics, historians, and cultural figures. In the statement passed to Aravot in connection with this statement, Levon Ter-Petrossian mentioned, “It has everything in it except political thought. In order not to fall into the arms of pessimism, I had no choice but, as usual, to dive into Edgar Hovhannisyan’s ‘Erebuni- Yerevan (Yerevan Dardzats Im Erebuni),’ Robert Amirkhanyan’s “My Dream Homeland (Yerazi Im Yerkir Hayreni)“, Ruben Hakhverdyan’s “My little boat (Im poqrik navak),” and Edgar Elbakyan’s “Oh moon, the moon (Akh lusin, lusin)” in soulful lyric poetry. I assure you that there are much deeper, more lasting treasures of the national spirit in those songs than in the patriotic flashes of the minds of the outstanding people who signed the statement in question.”
Artak Bshtikyan, who was hosted on Aravot’s “Areresum (Confrontation$” program, also thanked the first president of Armenia for advertising their statement. “As for his immersion, it seems to me that this is not a new phenomenon. The first president is constantly immersed. Some things turn out much better for him.” Former Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Vahagn Melikyan is a member of the initiative group. During the program, we asked him to refer to the statement’s point about “The status of the Artsakh Republic, including the Hadrut-Shushi regions, the uninterrupted free communication between Armenia and Artsakh, the return of Armenians to their places of permanent residence, the security of the Armenians of Artsakh, and permanent work with the Russian peacekeeping mission should become our foreign policy priorities.”
In response to the question of how they imagine the return of Hadrut and Shushi in particular, Melikyan referred to another provision of the statement: “it is necessary to use the fully exhausted diplomatic arsenal, the full potential and unity of all Armenians.” The Former Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thinks, “As a result of active diplomatic work, it is possible to come to certain agreements and bring to life problems that at first glance seem impossible.”
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Artak Bshtikyan added, “Yes, today’s authorities tell the public that in the current conditions there is no possibility to solve the problem through diplomacy. This thesis has been presented to the people in different periods since our independence, but we have examples when unsolvable situations suddenly got solutions or went the other way, what was said.”
There is a provision in the statement that “only the modern, efficient Artsakh Defense Army and the Armenian Armed Forces can be the guarantors of Artsakh’s security. Armenia’s security is directly connected with Artsakh’s security.” Meanwhile, it is already the third conscription that people from Armenia are not drafted to Artsakh. In these conditions, how do they see the solution of the problem of the combat effectiveness of the Artsakh Defense Army? In response to the question, Artak Bshtikyan, former adviser to the Minister of Defense, expressed conviction, “The current approach of the RA Armed Forces to the Artsakh Defense Army must be completely changed. We are witnessing the recent, to put it mildly, inappropriate attitude towards the army and the armed forces. The best example of this is that in a warring country we have not had a Chief of General Staff for a long time. These are issues that require immediate solutions. But these solutions can be found only if the government tends to find those solutions. And if the government is not inclined to find solutions, it is impossible to talk about the modern and efficient army mentioned in our statement.”
At our request, the former Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on another provision of the statement that “the effectiveness of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue cannot be conditioned by the status of Artsakh and the final solution of security issues in Artsakh.”
Meanwhile, it is known that the Turkish side has conditioned the bilateral dialogue with the solution of the problems in Artsakh for years. “Turkey still has the same position, that it has not changed it in any way, if not to say that it has toughened it much more,” Vahagn Melikyan agreed, citing examples proving what has been said. And he asked a question. “Why can’t we present all this to the international community in the right way?”
During the discussion, reference was also made to Nikol Pashinyan’s and Ilham Aliyev’s statements, as well as the actions of the opposition.
Anna ISRAELYAN
