Aykhan Hajizadeh, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, responded to the call of the Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg to open the Lachin Corridor. “Mr. Minister, the Lachin corridor is open, and free movement is ensured. Between December 12 and January 15, 644 units of equipment of the Red Cross, Russian peacekeeping troops, and local Armenian residents passed in both directions of the road. Allegations about “blockade” have no basis.”
In response to the mention of this, the guest of the “Aravot” program “Areresum” (“Confrontation”), manager-partner of “Concern Dialog” law office, and specialist in international law, Aram Orbelyan, first sneered. “There is a more talented argument: the Russians blocked the road. If we look at it technically, it is so that there is no conflict; the Russian peacekeepers are standing in the middle. The problem is elementary, yes, cars passed, and yes, a process took place. Now, if a departure tries to go through there, we’ve seen what happened with the children. And what about the operations of turning off and turning on the gas supply, dosed so that the humanitarian crisis is not so terrible, but not so much that they live comfortably? Is the destruction of the Internet cable and the processes related to it carried out entirely by “peaceful protesters”? That was very obvious: when the lady with the fur coat comes and cannot let the pigeon go so that it does not die, and then says that I am an environmentalist, that I have come to solve some environmental problem, this is ridiculous. We have clear evidence that the actions of these people are attributable to Azerbaijan. When the president of Azerbaijan says that it will be opened or closed (Aliyev said that the way is open for all those who want to leave Artsakh – A.I.), there are two options: Azerbaijan has the opportunity and power to open there or has none. If Azerbaijan has the opportunity to open the road and does not open it, it means it is continuing its genocidal policy. If it doesn’t have a toolkit, how does it say the road will be opened?”
And although it is evident that Azerbaijan is implementing a policy of depopulating Artsakh and carrying out ethnic cleansing, Gurgen Arsenyan, deputy of the ruling “Civil Contract” faction, told News.am: “One of the theses served inside the country is that the people of Artsakh cannot live with the Azerbaijanis, but these are only materials for blurring the internal political agenda. After all, we do not consider the issue from the point of view of destroying each other. Because from the point of view of destroying each other, we use our powerful tools, and they use theirs.” Responding to this statement, Aram Orbelyan said. “If the people of Artsakh can live with the Azerbaijanis, I want to understand, in the opinion of that same person, can the people of Syunik also live with the Azerbaijanis, and can the people of Yerevan live with the Azerbaijanis and the people of Gyumri… The answer is “yes” in all cases. I mean, there’s no way you can’t live. The only problem is the following: there is a fact that has become a reality: the independence of Artsakh. And the Minister of State of Artsakh said very clearly: we can live with the Azerbaijanis, but we cannot live “under” the Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijan must understand that the only way to live side by side is to be neighbors and not to be a part of Azerbaijan: Ruben Vardanyan told France 24 in a conversation with the TV company: – A. I.).Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijan must understand that the only way to live side by side is to be neighbors and not part of Azerbaijan: Ruben Vardanyan told France 24 in a conversation with the TV company: – A. I.). The only question is: how do we manage all this, and how will we live?”
Aram Orbelyan, recalling, in particular, the massacres in Sumgait, and Baku, manifestations of Turkey’s expansionist policy, mentioned several conditions under which it would be possible to live together. “Now they say: let’s forget, let’s move on. It doesn’t happen that way. There is an essential circumstance here: we can live with Azerbaijanis and Turks, but there are preconditions for that. And the essential precondition is some small steps by those countries: pan-Turkism should be recognized as a genocidal and anti-human policy. The “Grey Wolves” organization should be recognized as a terrorist organization. Enver Pasha should be considered a criminal against humanity, and the use of his picture should be criminalized. Pan-Turkist and “Grey Wolves” signs should be considered criminal acts. We are often given the example of Israel and Germany. Try to walk down the street with Nazi symbols in Germany today and see what will happen to you. After doing the actions, we can discuss, instead of forgetting what happened.”
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The entire conversation is in the video
Anna ISRAYELYAN
