“As a minister and official, I have always favored the recognition of the NKR, and I had disagreements with all the authorities on that issue.” How did it happen that RA could not achieve the independence of Artsakh? Raffi Hovhannisian, and the Leader of the “Heritage” party, answered during the press conference. He said that regardless of political upheavals, he was always in favor of recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh on its merits, based on the Montevideo Convention, and not to be related to war situations.
Raffi Hovhannisian continued: “Accepting the mediation of the European Security Council, on behalf of RA, in March 1992, we entered into a delicate process, but Azerbaijan itself predetermined the end of that process in quotation marks, saying that we would never recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. So, RA would not change its position in the same mirror sense in that situation. In my diplomatic meetings, I raised the question: why should we recognize if you have not recognized? We did not have to wait until the last minute, when its existence was in danger, to resort to secession for the sake of salvation for recognition. In 1994, even more so, parallel to the ceasefire, when we had three signatures on paper, we were already ready for recognition from the position of strength.” As for why it didn’t happen, Raffi Hovhannisian answered: I resigned in 1992.
He said. “I have been in opposition to all authorities. Everyone has made mistakes in diplomatic packages, but now what he is doing is nothing, linking the right to self-determination of NK and the reality of the establishment of NKR with the diplomatic position of this or that government, his diplomatic package, which is a negotiation package, and presenting it as acceptance of RA as part of territorial integrity or Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, it is the highest hypocrisy. No previous government, no matter how much I opposed it, did something like this. That is simply a lie in front of history.” To the question: How would you rate the Pashinyan-Putin-Aliev meeting and Nikol Pashinyan’s statement, where he emphasized that there will be no Zangezur corridor, Raffi Hovhanisian answered: “I consider his presence and his word to be worthless, and if it is necessary to keep his power, he will give it very well.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
