Signing a “peace agreement” will be a suicide agreement. The interlocutor of “Aravot” is Grigori Ayvazyan, Chairman of the Assembly of Azerbaijani Armenians and Azerbaijani scholar
– Mr. Ayvazyan, the authorities of Armenia declare that they recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, with an area of 86.6 thousand square kilometers, including Artsakh. Still, there are no statements by the authorities of Azerbaijan about recognizing the territorial integrity of Armenia. How do you assess the current situation?
– First, we should note that the Republic of Azerbaijan did not recognize itself as the successor of Soviet Azerbaijan. If someone says that they recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Artsakh, I must remind Azerbaijan itself does not recognize these borders. There are no legal and historical grounds for recognizing the so-called “enclaves” as part of Azerbaijan because Azerbaijan itself does not recognize them. Recognizing those limits and referring to the so-called “peace treaty” is also a wrong policy because it can be a treaty to regulate relations but not a “peace treaty” because it can be combined with so-called reparations.
Under no circumstances can it be called a “peace treaty”; after all, we have not declared war on Azerbaijan, nor has Azerbaijan declared war on Armenia. Did you declare war on Azerbaijan, and now you are making peace? It is not for nothing that the Russian-Ukrainian war is called “special military operations”; it is not called a war because the war also dictates a peace treaty, and this brings legal and political consequences. Signing a “peace treaty” would be a suicide pact. The authorities of Armenia have said many times that they do not have the right to negotiate on behalf of the people of Artsakh, so how do they recognize Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan?
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– Nikol Pashinyan announced that delimitation and demarcation works should be carried out based on 1975 Soviet maps. Still, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan announced that there has yet to be an agreement on specific maps. First, what risks do implement the process based on the 1975 map entail for the Armenian side, and why does Azerbaijan refuse this map? What is their goal?
– Baku moves with its invented maps, where Tbilisi, Yerevan, Nakhichevan, Artsakh, Syunik, Sevan Basin, and Tabriz are part of Azerbaijan. It is just a fairy tale and fiction. It is Ilham Aliyev’s dream, which has no historical or legal basis. The map of 1975 needs to be corrected to emphasize it because it can also be found on the Internet. They are not secret maps; you can see that map by searching the Internet, so what? The Armenian side should protect the principle of its territorial integrity, not rely on some maps. Moreover, I want to emphasize that the agreements of Kars and Moscow are invalid; Azerbaijan also does not recognize that they are legal. What are we chasing?
Why do we recognize those limits? We recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, with an area of 86.6 thousand square kilometers, including Artsakh, in the conditions when Azerbaijan also has a dispute with Russia and Iran. Shouldn’t we think about that? If Iran and Azerbaijan have a problem tomorrow, will we defend those 86.6 thousand square kilometers? We are a friendly country with Georgia, but for 30 years, we have been unable to carry out demarcation and delimitation works.
In that case, how can we carry out such work with Azerbaijan within a few days? If we listen to Ilham Aliyev, he has repeatedly emphasized that the Gegharkunik, Tavush, Ararat, Syunik regions, and some parts of Yerevan are also “historical Azerbaijani lands.” Now what should we do? They revived the so-called “West Azerbaijan” government and claimed that the so-called Azerbaijanis should come to Armenia. I want to understand who talks about the Armenians who lived in Azerbaijan before.
Did those people exist or not? Armenians inhabited northern Artsakh, Gardmank, Baku, and Sumgait regions; who is talking about that? Today they say: Azerbaijanis used to live here; what does that mean? Today: Artsakh, tomorrow: Syunik, then Yerevan? Azerbaijanis lived in Yerevan, but there were more Armenians in Baku; who should speak about it?
– In other words, should this issue be raised at the state level? Also, in this context, it is essential to emphasize that the Azerbaijanis left Armenia without violence, of their own free will, taking their property with them, and in Baku and Sumgait, there was a massacre of Armenians, people were displaced from their homes.
– Yes, but here I want to correct the wording: the Armenians were not displaced by pogroms but by genocidal actions. Who should raise the issue of Armenians being pushed out of Azerbaijan and the territory of predominantly Armenian settlements? It turns out that those people are orphans? Aliyev said like it or not, the Turks should return to their former places of residence. And he said that if you don’t give the so-called “Zangezuri Corridor,” we will open it by force. He never gets tired of repeating that, which is a matter of national security. They are falsifying the history of our country and the churches in Artsakh and presenting Aghvan and Udi. The Institute of Ethnography and Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences has published a book with my authorship: “The Udies, historical-ethnographic Review.” I think that each of us should resist Azerbaijani propaganda in some way. Everyone can wage their war against Azerbaijani counterfeiting.
Roza HOVHANNISYAN
“Aravot” daily, 10.06.2023
