In a conversation with Aravot.am, the representative of the interests of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan and human rights activist Siranuysh Sahakyan drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan threatens to start “other legal processes” against Armenia, the basis of which is given by Nikol Pashinyan himself, with his “strictly thought-out statements.” “For example, when he announces that these territories were occupied, in response, Aliyev says that it is not allowed to carry out economic activities in the occupied territories and since the economic activities have been carried out, let the Armenian nation compensate the economic losses suffered by the occupied country as a result of the economic activities. damages. I think he should be more concerned about his words, having the opportunity to listen to experts, get a lot of advice from them, and not try to leave that burden to ordinary people.”
“Recently, I have heard from our lawyers acting in international courts such a concern that it will be used against us because we filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Azerbaijan and our opposition, the two opposition factions of the parliament are shouting: ‘Armenia without Turks.’ But in the previous interview, I spoke about the return of Azerbaijanis to Nagorno-Karabakh, and today I spoke again. Serzh Sargsyan gave an interview and said that we are not fascists. In other words, when they talk about the future of Nagorno-Karabakh, they say: we are not fascists, and when they talk about Armenia-Turkey relations, they say: ‘Armenia without Turks.’ You were in power, you went, you signed with a commission of historians, you deleted the Masis mountain from the emblem of the Football Federation… Ararat Mirzoyan went to Antalya, you were almost called a traitor, but Serzh Sargsyan went to Ankara or Istanbul, I don’t remember… Yes, Bursa, yes, but he made a visit…” Nikol Pashinyan also expressed such a thought in his last press conference.
He means that it is possible to file a lawsuit against Armenia in international courts for chanting “Armenia without Turks” during opposition demonstrations and marches. Answering the question whether such expressions in political and public speech can be the basis of appeals against Armenia based on discrimination, Siranuysh Sahakyan said that there are already such appeals against Armenia and the Prime Minister had to know. We are talking about the legal process initiated by Armenia at the United Nations against Azerbaijan and Turkey after the 44-day war, after which a counterclaim was expected to be filed by the other state, in this case, Azerbaijan, which is the best form of defense.
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“And if he is somewhat familiar with Azerbaijan’s way of working, then this possibility was 100 percent, because in a mirror manner, Azerbaijan attributes to Armenians the violations that it commits and attributes it not because they are reality, but because of its own country. In order to organize the protection of interests in the best possible way, and, by misunderstanding the international community, tries to put a sign of equality, thus softening the reaction of the international community towards the large-scale crimes of its own country. They are either military or human and can even turn into genocide, which is also a historically confirmed reality in the case of the Turkish-Azerbaijani nations.”
There are risks, but our interlocutor does not see them in calling an ethnic group by its name, documenting historical realities. Moreover, in the realities of war, she believes that the change of rhetoric is also tolerated within the framework of freedom of speech. “There is no need for such fearful, overcautious behavior on the part of society, because societies win wars also through psychological advantages, and psychological advantages are given by leaders through correct, moderate rhetoric as well. But, instead, we have an example when Armenians are compared to dogs. This is where speech can become discriminatory. Or, Armenians are represented as a subordinate nation, in some cases, a tribe. This is where we can face discrimination. In reality, if we exclude the extreme manifestations of individual, private individuals, which are very few, I think, anti-Turkish rhetoric, speech, and hate speech simply does not exist in our country.” If the authorities are “very panicked” by international processes, then, according to the human rights defender, they should have correctly evaluated the possibilities of applying to the international court and not provoked the initiation of legal proceedings against Armenia. ”
And secondly, they should be afraid of other episodes that are being attributed. For example, the Azerbaijani side claims that Azerbaijani prisoners were tortured in Armenia. Now, if Nikol Pashinyan admits that the persons under his direct authority were tortured and Armenia will lose because of it, then he should have made other decisions. And if these actions did not happen, and I hope they did not happen, then we should organize the defense through professional solutions and not blame the public for calling things by their names. Turks cannot be called by any other name.”
Nelly GRIGORYAN
