Armenian premier points out condition for solving Karabakh conflict
21.11.2019,
12:27
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking Wednesday in the Italian Institute for International Political Studies in Milan as part of his official visit to Italy, said that the biggest security challenge for Armenians is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the press office of the Armenian government reports. He is quoted by the press office as saying that the conflict still remains unresolved becoming a source of permanent tension, and threatening to escalate into another outbreak of hostilities.
YEREVAN, November 21. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking Wednesday in the Italian Institute for International Political Studies in Milan as part of his official visit to Italy, said that the biggest security challenge for Armenians is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the press office of the Armenian government reports. He is quoted by the press office as saying that the conflict still remains unresolved becoming a source of permanent tension, and threatening to escalate into another outbreak of hostilities.
Pashinyan said anyone interested in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should know the background of the conflict. “This conflict is not a territorial dispute, as some have tried to present it in a simplified way. It is about the right to self-determination, human rights, and the physical security of the people that live there,” he said.
The Armenian premier presented in brief the roots of the conflict, which date back to early days of the Soviet Union when an Armenian region with 95 percent of Armenian population was assigned to Azerbaijan by an arbitrary decision of the Communist party, and further developments. The negotiation process on the settlement of the conflict was initiated back in 1992, even before the ceasefire agreement was signed. The OSCE Minsk Group, mandated by the international community to mediate the conflict resolution, defined that there were three parties to the conflict - Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Armenia. This fact was reaffirmed by many international documents of early 1990s.
“Indeed, for a long time, Nagorno-Karabakh participated as a party on the negotiation process. In early 1990s even a number of meetings were held between the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, as well as the ministers of defense of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia. Unfortunately, despite the decades-long efforts of international mediators, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict still remains unresolved,” Pashinyan said. “What are the reasons behind this situation? First and foremost, Azerbaijani authorities refuse to negotiate with the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh. They claim that Nagorno-Karabakh should be considered an indivisible part of Azerbaijan. But this is really a very odd position. On the one hand, Azerbaijani authorities want Nagorno-Karabakh to be a part of their territorial integrity. On the other hand, they do not want to conduct a dialogue with the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh. Is this not somewhat weird?
What does this position mean? It means that Azerbaijani authorities in fact do not want to negotiate with the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, just because they only want the territories but not the people. To be more precise - territories, without the people. It means that they hope to resolve the conflict by military means: occupy the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, conduct ethnic cleansings, and get rid of both Armenians and the problem itself.”
Nikol Pashinyan remembered that the Azerbaijani authorities had repeatedly said that the matter could be settled by military means.
Indeed, he said, there are many reasons to believe that the Azerbaijani authorities are preparing their society to a war. This is why they are inflaming anti-Armenian sentiments among their people. This is why they are spending enormous resources on armament. This is why the anti-Armenian hate speech has become actually official policy in Azerbaijan. This is why Armenophobia became a state policy in Azerbaijan.
“Any foreigner who visits Nagorno-Karabakh is blacklisted by Azerbaijan. This list already includes more than 850 people. Citizens of any country who bear an Armenian surname or suspected to have Armenian ethnic origin cannot enter Azerbaijan,” Pashinyan said. He also brought some concret examples of that policy in action.
“This policy sometimes has even ridiculous manifestations. Just a few days ago, a driver was detained in Baku merely for listening to an Armenian pop song,” he said. “But the most tragic and cynical case was the one with Ramil Safarov who murdered with an axe his Armenian classmate of a NATO seminar in Budapest. Safarov killed his Armenian classmate while he was asleep. Safarov was sentenced to life-imprisonment, then extradited to Azerbaijan by the Hungarian authorities, greeted as a national hero of Azerbaijan, pardoned by president Ilham Aliyev and released, promoted in military rank, and gifted an apartment.”
Notwithstanding all these circumstances, notwithstanding anti-Armenian policy of the Azerbaijani authorities, Armenia is taking concrete steps towards finding a mutually-acceptable solution to the conflict.
“I was the first Armenian leader who has voiced such a position. I was heavily criticized in my country for such a formula which places the three parties of the conflict on an equal footing. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that this is the only way to the peaceful and lasting settlement of the conflict, because it offers a possibility for compromise, mutual respect, and balance. In order to move forward, I expected a similar statement from Azerbaijan. Should we hear such a statement from President Aliyev, this would be a real breakthrough in the negotiation process,” Pashinyan said.
However, he said, the highest authorities of Azerbaijan remain on their position, which aims at a solution of the conflict acceptable only for the people of Azerbaijan. In his words, it gives him additional grounds for believing that Azerbaijan is nursing hopes to resolve the conflict by military means and doesn’t want to find a solution at the negotiation table. “However, the Azerbaijani authorities should understand that there is no alternative to the peace talks and the peaceful solution to the problem,” Pashinyan said. “First of all, it is absolutely useless to speak with Artsakh, with Nagorno Karabach and Armenia in a language of threat. It’s a path to nowhere. Azerbaijan once tried to speak the language of violent force with the people of Nagorno Karabach and faced serious consequences despite its huge superiority over Nagorno-Karabakh in terms of both population and the armament. Attempts to avenge this military failure will not lead to anything good.
A military escalation in our region will have disastrous consequences with even a global impact. Apparently, Azerbaijan, being engaged in hostilities, could provide a fertile ground for those terrorists who lost ground in Syria and Iraq and now are looking for new territories to set up their operations. Geographically, Azerbaijan could become a perfect basis for them to penetrate in all four directions to the South, to the North, to the East, and to the West.”
Nikol Pashinyan said that the Nagorno-Karabakh is a very complicated and painful issue for the peoples of the region. It is impossible to settle it without hard and consistent work, without a compromise, mutual respect, and balance.
“But if we took responsibility for the future of our peoples, we must make efforts to achieve real changes. I mean government of Azerbaijan, Government of Nagorno Karabach and Government of Armenia,” the Armenian prime minister said. “We are sincere in our aspiration for peace in the region, and are open for a dialogue to reach a solution to the conflict, which will be acceptable for the peoples of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. This is our approach, and we are ready to negotiate on the basis of this new paradigm.
Concluding my speech, I would like to tell you that before coming to you I went through the website of the institute, and one of the headlines of the discussions, you had, caught my eye. It read as follows: «Ink is better than blood». There was enough blood in this conflict. We need ink and firm hands to put an end to it and to bring peace to the peoples of our region.”
Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.
On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.
Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.
Some 30,000 people were killed in this war and about one million people fled their homes. On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations.
Тalks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA, Russia and France. -0---
Pashinyan said anyone interested in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should know the background of the conflict. “This conflict is not a territorial dispute, as some have tried to present it in a simplified way. It is about the right to self-determination, human rights, and the physical security of the people that live there,” he said.
The Armenian premier presented in brief the roots of the conflict, which date back to early days of the Soviet Union when an Armenian region with 95 percent of Armenian population was assigned to Azerbaijan by an arbitrary decision of the Communist party, and further developments. The negotiation process on the settlement of the conflict was initiated back in 1992, even before the ceasefire agreement was signed. The OSCE Minsk Group, mandated by the international community to mediate the conflict resolution, defined that there were three parties to the conflict - Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Armenia. This fact was reaffirmed by many international documents of early 1990s.
“Indeed, for a long time, Nagorno-Karabakh participated as a party on the negotiation process. In early 1990s even a number of meetings were held between the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, as well as the ministers of defense of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia. Unfortunately, despite the decades-long efforts of international mediators, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict still remains unresolved,” Pashinyan said. “What are the reasons behind this situation? First and foremost, Azerbaijani authorities refuse to negotiate with the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh. They claim that Nagorno-Karabakh should be considered an indivisible part of Azerbaijan. But this is really a very odd position. On the one hand, Azerbaijani authorities want Nagorno-Karabakh to be a part of their territorial integrity. On the other hand, they do not want to conduct a dialogue with the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh. Is this not somewhat weird?
What does this position mean? It means that Azerbaijani authorities in fact do not want to negotiate with the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, just because they only want the territories but not the people. To be more precise - territories, without the people. It means that they hope to resolve the conflict by military means: occupy the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, conduct ethnic cleansings, and get rid of both Armenians and the problem itself.”
Nikol Pashinyan remembered that the Azerbaijani authorities had repeatedly said that the matter could be settled by military means.
Indeed, he said, there are many reasons to believe that the Azerbaijani authorities are preparing their society to a war. This is why they are inflaming anti-Armenian sentiments among their people. This is why they are spending enormous resources on armament. This is why the anti-Armenian hate speech has become actually official policy in Azerbaijan. This is why Armenophobia became a state policy in Azerbaijan.
“Any foreigner who visits Nagorno-Karabakh is blacklisted by Azerbaijan. This list already includes more than 850 people. Citizens of any country who bear an Armenian surname or suspected to have Armenian ethnic origin cannot enter Azerbaijan,” Pashinyan said. He also brought some concret examples of that policy in action.
“This policy sometimes has even ridiculous manifestations. Just a few days ago, a driver was detained in Baku merely for listening to an Armenian pop song,” he said. “But the most tragic and cynical case was the one with Ramil Safarov who murdered with an axe his Armenian classmate of a NATO seminar in Budapest. Safarov killed his Armenian classmate while he was asleep. Safarov was sentenced to life-imprisonment, then extradited to Azerbaijan by the Hungarian authorities, greeted as a national hero of Azerbaijan, pardoned by president Ilham Aliyev and released, promoted in military rank, and gifted an apartment.”
Notwithstanding all these circumstances, notwithstanding anti-Armenian policy of the Azerbaijani authorities, Armenia is taking concrete steps towards finding a mutually-acceptable solution to the conflict.
“I was the first Armenian leader who has voiced such a position. I was heavily criticized in my country for such a formula which places the three parties of the conflict on an equal footing. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that this is the only way to the peaceful and lasting settlement of the conflict, because it offers a possibility for compromise, mutual respect, and balance. In order to move forward, I expected a similar statement from Azerbaijan. Should we hear such a statement from President Aliyev, this would be a real breakthrough in the negotiation process,” Pashinyan said.
However, he said, the highest authorities of Azerbaijan remain on their position, which aims at a solution of the conflict acceptable only for the people of Azerbaijan. In his words, it gives him additional grounds for believing that Azerbaijan is nursing hopes to resolve the conflict by military means and doesn’t want to find a solution at the negotiation table. “However, the Azerbaijani authorities should understand that there is no alternative to the peace talks and the peaceful solution to the problem,” Pashinyan said. “First of all, it is absolutely useless to speak with Artsakh, with Nagorno Karabach and Armenia in a language of threat. It’s a path to nowhere. Azerbaijan once tried to speak the language of violent force with the people of Nagorno Karabach and faced serious consequences despite its huge superiority over Nagorno-Karabakh in terms of both population and the armament. Attempts to avenge this military failure will not lead to anything good.
A military escalation in our region will have disastrous consequences with even a global impact. Apparently, Azerbaijan, being engaged in hostilities, could provide a fertile ground for those terrorists who lost ground in Syria and Iraq and now are looking for new territories to set up their operations. Geographically, Azerbaijan could become a perfect basis for them to penetrate in all four directions to the South, to the North, to the East, and to the West.”
Nikol Pashinyan said that the Nagorno-Karabakh is a very complicated and painful issue for the peoples of the region. It is impossible to settle it without hard and consistent work, without a compromise, mutual respect, and balance.
“But if we took responsibility for the future of our peoples, we must make efforts to achieve real changes. I mean government of Azerbaijan, Government of Nagorno Karabach and Government of Armenia,” the Armenian prime minister said. “We are sincere in our aspiration for peace in the region, and are open for a dialogue to reach a solution to the conflict, which will be acceptable for the peoples of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. This is our approach, and we are ready to negotiate on the basis of this new paradigm.
Concluding my speech, I would like to tell you that before coming to you I went through the website of the institute, and one of the headlines of the discussions, you had, caught my eye. It read as follows: «Ink is better than blood». There was enough blood in this conflict. We need ink and firm hands to put an end to it and to bring peace to the peoples of our region.”
Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.
On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.
Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.
Some 30,000 people were killed in this war and about one million people fled their homes. On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations.
Тalks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA, Russia and France. -0---
