The former Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanian, recently expressed an opinion that the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh in the Soviet period should be put on the negotiation agenda. “In the Soviet period, Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous region; this should be on today’s negotiations’ agenda. Let’s remember that it is this fact that in 1991 gave the people of Artsakh the opportunity to strive for self-determination and hold a referendum. It became acceptable for the international community precisely because of the existence of the fact that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh had an autonomous region during the Soviet period. It must be brought to the table today.
Due to negotiations, it will open up new opportunities to reach some political and legal solutions. There simply will not be a counter-argument to this. The international community will immediately bring this to the negotiation table. Azerbaijan may resist, but it will be forced. If Azerbaijan is against putting this on the agenda, Azerbaijan will face severe problems from the point of view of international law. And if this issue enters the agenda, it will give the people of Artsakh an opportunity to strive for independence with the help of the international community,” Vardan Oskanyan explained.
MP Artur Harutyunyan (in the photo), elected by the alliance of “Free Motherland-UCA” parties, representing the ruling power of the Artsakh parliament, does not share this approach of the diplomat. He reminds us that after the first Artsakh war, the entire negotiation process was built on applying Artsakh’s self-determination principle. There was no mention of the status of the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
That status is already history. It was the basis for advancing the issue of self-determination of Artsakh due to the collapse of the USSR. Therefore, he considers applying such an approach as a backward step. According to him, even in a situation that sometimes seems hopeless and is complex and dire, the current changed realities should not constrain us and force us to make decisions to the detriment of the Artsakh State and Artsakh Armenians.
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“We don’t have such a question on the agenda; I don’t think it will be acceptable in any way,” said Artur Harutyunyan in a conversation with Aravot.am. According to the deputy of Artsakh, there is no alternative to realizing Artsakh’s right to self-determination; it is an internationally recognized legal norm, and any other, even intermediate status, will not replace it.
Let’s remind that Vardan Oskanian also wanted authorization from the Prime Minister of Armenia and 2-3 months of silence so that under his leadership, with a group of diplomats, he would have the opportunity to correct the negotiation process of the Artsakh issue in favor of the Armenian parties. This proposal was perceived differently in the opposition political field. According to some accounts, it contains more romanticism than a precise calculation. Meanwhile, the Third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, considers Vardan Oskanian’s proposal logical. Artur Harutyunyan did not want to comment on this proposal of Vardan Oskanian, saying that it is personal.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
