Albert Bazeyan on saving Armenia and Artsakh
“If one is Armenian by nationality, we should not distinguish whether he is from Gyumri, from the province or Artsakh, French Armenian, Russian Armenian, or Diaspora Armenian. The homeland of all of us is the Republic of Armenia, together with Artsakh. We should try to unite the 9-10 million Armenians living in the world around one idea: to keep and preserve our homeland,” former NA Vice-Chairman and former Mayor of Yerevan Albert Bazeyan told Aravot.
According to his conviction, Azerbaijanis would not be satisfied if we lost Artsakh. “They will come and take Syunik and come to Yerevan. Today, they consider Armenia Western Azerbaijan as if Yerevan was Erivan, where there were many mosques; Armenians are immigrants here, and they practice such a policy. We must also have natural allies at odds with the Turkish world to succeed. They are Greece, Iran, and India, which have intense tensions with Pakistan, and Pakistan is a state that has not recognized Armenia as an independent state until today.
A natural ally is China, which has problems with the Uyghurs; Turkish-speaking Uyghurs live in its northeast. The dream of the Turks is the idea of the Great Turan: to pass over us, to go to Azerbaijan, take the northwestern province of Iran, to go to Central Asia; there are Turkish-speaking peoples in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, they will go to the Altai region, where there are still Turkish-speaking peoples.
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That is the idea of the big Turan, and we are standing at their throat. For that, Arab countries, in addition to the ones I have listed, where Armenians live in similar conditions, being Christians, are natural allies. After the Genocide, many Armenians went and settled there; being a Muslim country, they did not make any distinction. Naturally, our foreign policy should be balanced. Where our interests coincide with the Russian Federation, we interact with the Russian Federation. Where the interests of the EU countries coincide with democracy, and human rights protection, we cooperate with the EU. We can cooperate with the United States, the world’s most powerful country, to increase our security system.
Unfortunately, Lilit Makunts, who only knows English, was sent there.” According to our observation, the CC members are delighted with Makunts; considering her one of our best ambassadors, Bazeyan laughed. “Yes, is she the best?” Well, we’re glad it is.” Albert Bazeyan announced that they are starting a new alternative movement for the change of power. “That’s why they first propose to put aside the differences with all political forces and individuals.”Socialist, pro-Russian, pro-Western, let’s put all those things aside, unite the political structures, cultural unions, journalists, human rights defenders in a single alliance around the idea of keeping Armenia, let’s get the people up and send this government home. As for Nikol Pashinyan, according to the law, a criminal case should be initiated against him for leading the country to defeat for causing the killing of 5000 soldiers because if he says: we could have given it, but there was a war, let him give some territories, Aghdam, which is located east of Artsakh, and Kubatlu, Zangelan, but would remain on the part of Armenia connecting Artsakh with Lachin.
He should have resigned if he wasn’t thinking about himself, but was thinking about the country and the state.” When we reminded Pashinyan’s words that “the public was not ready, I was not ready” to give territories, Bazeyan responded. “Let him come to an agreement, ensure peace and resign, then the public would justify him, but now he has no excuse.” To the question: Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan connects the salvation of Artsakh with Russia and considers that only in that security zone we can be genuinely safe; in general, how do you evaluate the behavior of our military-political ally recently, Bazeyan answered. “We have allied relations with Russia; there has been a bilateral agreement on bilateral cooperation since 1997; Russia has a military base in Gyumri and controls the Armenian-Turkish border. We have contractual obligations, and they also have obligations toward us as a CSTO member country.
But CSTO did not help us in this war. Maybe they didn’t care for their interests, and here we have demanded from the CSTO member states. As for Russia, they are physically here; no matter what the West says, they will not send troops to Armenia to fight for us. People are talking about joining NATO, but it is impossible. Georgia has been trying to become a member for 30 years but has failed. The second largest NATO country is Turkey. Turkish soldiers will come to Armenia in NATO uniforms; let them understand that.”
Hripsime Jebejyan
“Aravot” daily, 22.02.2023
