Armenia remains committed to peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict, Armenian foreign minister says
24.05.2019,
11:36
In an interview posted on belsat.eu, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan slammed Belarus for selling weapons to Azerbaijan saying it is unacceptable. His remarks came in response to a question about whether he believes in Azerbaijani and Belarusian comments that the sale of rocket systems to Baku by Minsk is to create a balance of forces in the South Caucasus.
YEREVAN, May 24. /ARKA/. In an interview posted on belsat.eu, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan slammed Belarus for selling weapons to Azerbaijan saying it is unacceptable. His remarks came in response to a question about whether he believes in Azerbaijani and Belarusian comments that the sale of rocket systems to Baku by Minsk is to create a balance of forces in the South Caucasus.
“We do not accept this; it is unacceptable. Armenia and Belarus are allies in the CSTO and have obligations stemming from their membership. As for the sale of Belarusian weapons to Azerbaijan, these weapons are used to kill our compatriots. For you, it is a business, for us it is a weapon that kills our people. Therefore, this sensitivity has been and remains very high. That is not even sensitivity, it is simply unacceptability,” he said.
In response to a question about whether there are arguments to convince Belarus to limit this kind of business, Mnatsakanyan said lack of security in the South Caucasus region will have very strong consequences.
“This concerns interests much broader than our region. The arms race in our region is not conducive to stability. We remain committed to a very strictly peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and we have very clearly expressed positions in this sense. The most important thing is that the conflict is not just an amorphous question. It is a question that concerns the existential security of our people,” he said.
In this context, the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry recalled the situation in Karabakh in early 90s. “In the 90s there were situations when Nagorno-Karabakh could simply cease to exist. In the early 90s some 40% of Nagorno-Karabakh was occupied by Azerbaijan and 40% of our population was subjected to ethnic cleansing. Armenia was and remains the security guarantor of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.
“I would like to reiterate: Armenia was and remains the guarantor of the security of Nagorno-Karabakh. For us, this is an existential issue. When a murderer of a person of Armenian nationality is declared a national hero of Azerbaijan, when ultimatums are made followed by attempts of aggression as was the case in April 2016. For us, all this confirms once again that this question concerns the existential security of a people. They are concrete people, who have names and surnames. This is not some kind of abstraction for us. The protection potential suggests that, yes, there will be consequences, and they will concern everyone,” he stressed.
The Armenian Foreign Minister in this context stated that there is no alternative to peace, there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement of this conflict. “And any contribution to the escalation of the tension is not in the interests of peace. This is a question of responsibility,” Mnatsakanyan concluded.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed.
Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year.
On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. -0---
“We do not accept this; it is unacceptable. Armenia and Belarus are allies in the CSTO and have obligations stemming from their membership. As for the sale of Belarusian weapons to Azerbaijan, these weapons are used to kill our compatriots. For you, it is a business, for us it is a weapon that kills our people. Therefore, this sensitivity has been and remains very high. That is not even sensitivity, it is simply unacceptability,” he said.
In response to a question about whether there are arguments to convince Belarus to limit this kind of business, Mnatsakanyan said lack of security in the South Caucasus region will have very strong consequences.
“This concerns interests much broader than our region. The arms race in our region is not conducive to stability. We remain committed to a very strictly peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and we have very clearly expressed positions in this sense. The most important thing is that the conflict is not just an amorphous question. It is a question that concerns the existential security of our people,” he said.
In this context, the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry recalled the situation in Karabakh in early 90s. “In the 90s there were situations when Nagorno-Karabakh could simply cease to exist. In the early 90s some 40% of Nagorno-Karabakh was occupied by Azerbaijan and 40% of our population was subjected to ethnic cleansing. Armenia was and remains the security guarantor of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.
“I would like to reiterate: Armenia was and remains the guarantor of the security of Nagorno-Karabakh. For us, this is an existential issue. When a murderer of a person of Armenian nationality is declared a national hero of Azerbaijan, when ultimatums are made followed by attempts of aggression as was the case in April 2016. For us, all this confirms once again that this question concerns the existential security of a people. They are concrete people, who have names and surnames. This is not some kind of abstraction for us. The protection potential suggests that, yes, there will be consequences, and they will concern everyone,” he stressed.
The Armenian Foreign Minister in this context stated that there is no alternative to peace, there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement of this conflict. “And any contribution to the escalation of the tension is not in the interests of peace. This is a question of responsibility,” Mnatsakanyan concluded.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed.
Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year.
On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. -0---
