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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   29 March 2024

Ex-defense minister fires back at first President LTP for criticism

Ex-defense minister fires back at first President LTP for criticism

YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS. Former defense minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan has reacted to first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s comment on the statements of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and himself regarding Armenia being a party to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Vigen Sargsyan responded to Ter-Petrosyan with a statement titled ‘Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s approaches in the Artsakh conflict are known, so is our society’s attitude for them’.

“Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s approaches in the Karabakh settlement issue are known for a long time. They [approaches] became the obvious cause of his resignation and the total failure of his HAK [political party led by LTP] in the 2017 parliamentary elections. I sincerely hope that Nikol Pashinyan doesn’t share these famous approaches of his over the Artsakh conflict.

I have and still do attach importance to forming a professional team over foreign political approaches with the purpose of ruling out the presentation of individual approaches as the country’s opinion. Especially in this case, when the person who was elected Prime Minister didn’t have the chance to hold public and narrow expert discussions regarding his conceptual approaches over foreign policy issues. This is what I have first of all talked about in my interview.

The leadership of Armenia, especially when presenting its negotiation bid, must emphasize the approaches which stem from the interests of Artsakh’s security and are strengthening its negotiations positions.

Simultaneously with advancing Armenia’s being or not being a “war party”, Azerbaijan is also always trying  to present the conflict as a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

For doing this, it [Azerbaijan] always speaks about the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The conflict is between Azerbaijan and Karabakh. Armenia is a party to the negotiations and is the guarantor of security for the population of Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia has always emphasized that the Artsakh issue is a struggle of self-determination of the people, and I am sure it will continue proceeding from this position.

P.S. – I have never suffered from a mania of being considered the ‘father’ of something, especially of our century old Nation-Army concept. I have always said this in my public speeches. I have simply done everything in my powers for transforming the reality of being a nation-army into an effective policy. I am proud to have succeeded in many things,” former defense minister Vigen Sargsyan said in the statement.

 

Earlier, First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan released a new statement on May 14 addressing the earlier voiced statements of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and former defense minister Vigen Sargsyan on being a party to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The first president’s statement was published as an op-ed on ilur.am.

“Arguing Nikol Pashinyan’s recently expressed idea on Armenia being a party to the Karabakh conflict, the former defense minister has said the following: “Three days ago, Armenia’s Prime Minister expressed a number of stances regarding the settlement of the Karabakh conflict at a press conference, which, in my opinion, can be dangerous…..The Prime Minister has stated that no drastic turns will happen in the foreign policy sector, but at the same time he hinted that Armenia is a party to the conflict. This has always been Azerbaijan’s assertion, whereas the international community knows that Armenia is the guarantor of security of Artsakh, a negotiating partner, but never a “party to the conflict”. This might have far-reaching consequences. Finally, the statements of Pashinyan also include manifestations of ignorance over negotiations details. (Aravot.am 12.05.2018.)

Vigen Sargsyan who is accusing Pashinyan in “being ignorant on negotiating details” is actually disclosing his own total ignorance about the content of the Karabakh settlement process. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Karabakh have received a “Karabakh conflict party” status by the international community in the OSCE 1994 December 6 Budapest summit final document and more clearly in the 1995 March 31 Prague clarification of the OSCE CiO.

From here it becomes clear that Vigen Sargsyan’s idea claiming that it is Azerbaijan that has always insisted to acknowledge Armenia as a party to the Karabakh conflict, is nonsense. In reality, that isn’t what Azerbaijan has insisted, rather that Armenia to be recognized not as a party to the Karabakh conflict, but as a party to the Karabakh War, i.e. an aggressor. This aspiration of Azerbaijan has been thwarted through the brilliant efforts of Armenian diplomacy in four resolutions of the UN Security Council, where it is clearly stipulated that the surrounding Azerbaijani regions of Karabakh have been captured not by the Army of Armenia, but by the local Armenian forces.

If the defense minister of Armenia hasn’t understood the difference between this elementary realities, then the Armenian people must be happy that it has been freed from this person who had declared himself to be the father of Nation-Army [concept].

Out of context, perhaps it is noteworthy to remind that the achievements of the “full and equal party of the conflict” internationally recognized status of Nagorno Karabakh was the greatest achievement of Armenian diplomacy, which was misled by Robert Kocharyan’s [2nd president], to say the least, criminal negligence, which became the basis of all future complications which arose in the Karabakh conflict settlement process”, Levon Ter-Petrosyan said.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan

 








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