The former Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan, addressed the blockade of Artsakh on Facebook Live. “Indeed, our compatriots are starving in Artsakh today; the situation is becoming more dire daily. The authorities of Armenia have something to do here.”
He mentioned that he wants to refrain from commenting on yesterday’s message of the National Assembly of Artsakh and let the Armenian authorities decide whether they will fulfill the call made in that message or not. Still, there is a step that the Armenian authorities should not delay.
“The Armenian authorities have a powerful weapon in their hands. It is the decision of the International Court of Justice, a U.N. body. Having that Court’s decision, Armenia should very quickly submit a claim to the U.N. Security Council today, bring the issue there and explain, ask, and demand that the Lachin Corridor be opened. We should be able to present that difficult humanitarian situation correctly, with the right people and doing the right diplomatic work, to reach a decision that will put additional pressure on Azerbaijan to open that way.”
According to Oskanyan, “What Pashinyan is doing today is very clear to all of us; there is no question of simply deciphering and analyzing here. He admits that Artsakh is a part of Azerbaijan and will remain so. And there is no requirement in return. In other words, Pashinyan’s policy will lead to the fact that when that document is signed, Artsakh, with its 120,000 population, will be dissolved in Azerbaijan.
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The rumors that Baku and Stepanakert will hold a dialogue are a formality and mislead the people. After signing the document, consider that Artsakh is already dissolved in Azerbaijan, and the issue is closed.” According to Vardan Oskanyan, what Pashinyan is doing now seems to be the easiest way to solve the problem based on the situation. But, according to him, it is not easy because what Pashinyan is doing is unrealistic.
“Besides the fact that it is incomprehensible and unacceptable, it is also unrealistic. He wants to give something that is not his. He wants to give a territory that has belonged to the people of Artsakh for thousands of years. Armenians lived there; he wants to provide a territory that was never part of independent Azerbaijan. He wants to hand over territory with an autonomous status even in the Soviet period. He wants to provide a territory that was an independent political unit in the previous 30 years. That is unrealistic; it becomes even more unrealistic when you consider that there are more than 50 self-identified movements in the world today. No people, nation has refused that right; we Armenians will be the first. There are more than 120 autonomous political units in 50 world countries. That is why what Pashinyan is doing is unrealistic.
Moreover, what Pashinyan is doing cannot bring peace, and for that’s reason, too, it is unrealistic. It can get good relations between Pashinyan’s government and the government of Azerbaijan, but never between the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples,” he said.
According to him, if Nikol Pashinyan signs that document, Armenia will enter a long cycle of profound instability, from which it will be complicated to get out.
Roza HOVHANNISYAN
