“However, thanks to the treacherous incompetence or stupid betrayal of the authorities of Armenia and Karabakh, Karabakh was presented to the eyes of the entire international community as a conflict created by Russia and defended by Russia,” says “Aravot” interlocutor, political scientist Anush Sedrakyan.
– Ms. Sedrakyan, Artsakh was depopulated through the war, and the President of Artsakh signed a document announcing that the Republic of Artsakh will cease to exist from January 1. So, is the issue of Artsakh closed?
– If we talk from the point of view of international law, let’s take the Palestinian issue as an example; there was also a referendum, the League of Nations passed it, and no one thinks of fundamentally closing the Palestinian issue because the Palestinian issue serves the entire Arab world. Just yesterday, I was listening to two interviews with the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, and in both cases, we see the Palestinian precedent, the line. In both cases, the ambassador used convincing historical and political arguments to silence all the accusations they tried to portray Palestine as a terrorist entity. He even emphasized that Palestine and Hamas are different, and identifying them by the international community is a big blow to Palestinian self-determination. I am telling all these details because the issue of Artsakh was on all diplomatic platforms, and no one could have thought that Armenia could leave the Artsakh format as a functional entity and, moreover, declare that “we recognize the existence of Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan”.
Political scientist Anush Sedrakyan
It is interesting because the same authorities said something completely different a few years ago, now something else. And such a change in the international position does not end with blaming the authorities of Artsakh. Let me explain why. If Armenia claimed to start the negotiations from scratch, if Armenia conducted all the negotiations, if the Armenian leaders signed the November 9 document, if the signature of the Armenian authorities determined the capitulation and fate of Armenia, the subsequent negotiations were conducted by the Armenian authorities; now I don’t understand one thing, according to what logic do the Artsakh authorities dissolve Artsakh?
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In that case, the government of Armenia should have said that all the responsibility is on the rules of Artsakh and let them go and sign all the documents. If they wash their hands, they should do it to the end, not go and sign capitulation documents and then say that the authorities of Artsakh dissolved Artsakh. This kind of ignorance happens in international jurisprudence, but this line continues to move forward and will continue until the end. Shortly, Armenia will become an enclave, too.
– After the occupation of Artsakh, Azerbaijan did not stop; it presented territorial demands to Armenia. Was this expected?
– Of course, it will not stop. It is awful that we did not do all this at the time; we played compromise and international law under the instigation and pressure of the same Russians. In both cases, the conductor of the conflict was Russia; Russia worked for the benefit of Azerbaijan. But thanks to the treasonous incompetence of the authorities of Armenia and Karabakh, Karabakh was presented to the eyes of the entire international community as a conflict created by Russia and defended by Russia.
And in fact, Karabakh was the first anti-Soviet conflict in the whole region. The people of Artsakh, using all democratic tools, separated from Azerbaijan and announced their accession to Armenia. It is history, and it cannot be broken. And since there was a referendum then, Samvel Shahramanyan has no right to dissolve Artsakh. Suppose the international community has declared that it does not recognize the newly elected Samvel Shahramanyan and the National Assembly that elected him. How is it that it recognizes the document he signed? A lot of exciting things are happening. All capitulation documents are published in the world. How did it happen that the issue of Artsakh and “enclaves” does not exist at the documentary level? Do you know why? Because that trade is beneficial, including the people who represent Armenia today. And I don’t see any speech by the Armenian authorities that could be equivalent to the statement of the Palestinian ambassador I mentioned.
Everything is so secret that we cannot say that one of the capitulation points is not intended to disband and weaken the Armenian army, reducing it to police and patrol functions. This is beneficial for the current authorities to have an army protecting the viceroyalty. If all the weapons in Artsakh were fired, the situation would not be like this, and the international community’s attitude towards us would not be like this. We forget that we live in that region and that we have to prove our right to exist and have a state in this place every second. Building a mini-Europe in a bloody and explosive area is impossible. You cannot declare that Aliyev is educated and Azerbaijanis are peace-loving when the forcibly displaced persons from Artsakh have seen the war and the treatment towards them with their own eyes.
We see that they have fallen into a planned meat grinder; this is a planned, point-by-point meat grinder, where the government gets the right to maintain its power by pulverizing the borders of the country and the people of the Armenian nation. That type of government is acceptable to them. And it is a pity that we have all become self-willed because the political elite must be educated within the country. And in our country, unfortunately, all the authorities did everything to prevent the development of a healthy and balanced political elite in Armenia. They gave food to different puppets; they thought that by breeding opposition, they could control the political process. Ignoring political thought and the danger of possible developments, we have reached this state. Sometimes they say we deserve this. No, I don’t believe that the Armenian people, those hard-working people of Artsakh who stick to the land and have 5-6 children, deserved this. We did not deserve this; we were a congregation during the war and this tragedy.
But what is the use when our unity of the war was annulled with treasonous statements and wrong organization of the process, and our current unanimous help was described as a desire to unite around the government? And Europe applauded. When you try to express a different opinion, it is not beneficial because, believe me, this situation is also beneficial for Europe.
I always give this example: imagine you went crazy and decided to divide your property between two conflicting neighbors. Even if they conflict with each other, they will gladly take a share of your property. And we build university towns, give Snoop Dogg 6 million dollars, and continue to live. In the conditions when those 6 million dollars could have become a protective dome, we transferred it for Snoop Dogg’s concert, but that did not happen. And it is considered normal by everyone; we laugh and pass.
Rosa HOVHANNISYAN
“Aravot” daily, 20.10.2023
