Artsakh cannot be the price of a peace treaty, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh Davit Babayan stated in a conversation with “Azatutyan”.
We present an excerpt from the interview.
David Babayan – Artsakh cannot be the price of that peace treaty. If there is no Artsakh, then many, many bad things will happen, that’s why in that treaty…, naturally, one of the goals of Azerbaijan and Turkey is that we ourselves should recognize it as part of Azerbaijan. This will demoralize us, we will lose our principles, and we will turn into an object and get a worse status, but in this situation and in this region, you can imagine what happens to such countries.
“Azatutyun”. – You mean that if the parties recognize each other’s territorial integrity and Artsakh is not mentioned there?
Babayan – Artsakh should not enter into that territorial integrity, I don’t know how it will be formulated, that is, there are ways, but it is already a technical issue. The principle should be that Artsakh is not a part of Azerbaijan, otherwise, I really can’t even imagine what we should call ourselves after that.
“Azatutyun” – Mr. Babayan, one of its options could be, for example, the suspension of the issue, but how stable is it, let’s say, it is written that we will not address the status for 5-10 years until the people are ready for reconciliation and coexistence.
Babayan – Regardless of everything, first of all, it should not be recognized as part of Azerbaijan, this will be a catastrophe, this will be a death sentence for the Republic of Armenia as a state, and this will break the unity of the Armenians, which is already undermined: Diaspora, Artsakh, mother Armenia. This will lead to unpredictable developments. We must be principled. Wasn’t Turkey in a difficult situation in 1920-21, or wasn’t Azerbaijan in a difficult situation in 1994, or many, many other countries were not in a difficult situation and managed to overcome it all? You overcome when you have a clear principled approach when you know that this is your destiny and you have to move accordingly because we have no other option.
“Azatutyun”. – And how do you see the establishment of the rights of the people of Artsakh, that is, what does it mean that now Yerevan is constantly saying, let’s start from there and the status will follow?
Babayan: The rights of the people of Artsakh, etc., of course, this is a good terminology, but not for this conflict, because Artsakh itself is not some kind of amorphous concept, it is not some incomprehensible nation, there is a state, that statehood has been developed for 30 years. I ask you a question, didn’t those poor and fiery people in the concentration camps have rights and freedoms, of course, they did, they had the right to sleep for, say, 20 minutes a day and were free to dream whatever dreams they wanted during that sleep. And what does that give, that is, we are a state, we have exercised our inalienable rights, the same right to self-determination many times.
“Azatutyun”. – You are often criticized for not being realistic when you talk about independence.
Babayan – What does it mean that we are not realistic? On the contrary, we are the most realistic, and who said that it is an easy process, on the contrary, we have always said that, unfortunately, in the case of Artsakh, geopolitical calculations prevail, not that we do not deserve independence from a historical, legal, and moral point of view. No, we do not concede anything to Kosovo, to the rest of the countries, but we never lie, we say: “Dear people, this is difficult, but it is completely realistic.” What do we do now, give up?
“Azatutyun” – Azerbaijan is calling for the withdrawal of the Defense Army from Artsakh, also citing the November document. Do you agree with the Prime Minister of Armenia that if the Russian side and Baku undertake a commitment that there will be no tension on the line of contact, it is possible to refuse the combat rotation of the Artsakh armed forces?
Babayan – Now if Baku is ready not to shoot or attack, what harm does the Defense Army do to itself, what danger does it pose, that’s why it is called the Defense Army, what should we do now, disarm and wait, let’s see if Azerbaijan attacks one day. Do we have adequate grounds for that fear? Of course, we do.
“Azatutyun” – The American and Russian co-chairs of the Minsk Group are in the region, will they come to Nagorno-Karabakh?
Babayan – They will not come this time, as far as I am aware, although the Minsk Group also deals with these issues and they should come, this is part of their work.
“Azatutyun” – Mr. Babayan, are there no meetings planned in the territory of Armenia?
Babayan – I hope that one day those meetings will be held in Artsakh, if an intermediate option is found in Yerevan before then, it should be discussed, but it is necessary.
