The multivector negotiations conducted for many months by the Armenian authorities at the highest level for the purpose of signing the Armenia-Azerbaijan “peace agreement” have gained significant momentum recently.
The travel from Washington to Moscow, between these two politically opposing poles, passing through Brussels, Prague and other European cities, has reached a dizzying political speed, especially when it has become impossible to see in the successive announcements from those meetings even the slightest degree of an Armenian national strategy taking shape.
In this process, attitudes inspiring concern are being revealed. Indeed, in the speeches of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan, who are the official main negotiators of the Republic of Armenia, in recent days, there are expressions that are foreign and unacceptable to the beliefs that are the (raison d’être) of the Armenian people in general and to our organization in particular.
Among the highly worrisome positions of the representatives of Armenia is the continual emphasis on the urgent need for a peace agreement with Azerbaijan while the necessary fundamental basis for a just and lasting peace between the sides, including military, political and international guarantees, is lacking.
Moreover, Nikol Pashinyan’s now clear statement that his regime will accept that not only Artsakh is part of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but also border villages and territories belonging to the Republic of Armenia and possessing strategic importance for the latter will disquiet the mind and conscience of all Armenians.
Any such idea or tendency expressed by a head of the Republic of Armenia contradicts:
- A) the point of view of the creation of the third Republic of Armenia, and many points of the Declaration signed by the Supreme Council of Armenia on August 23, 1990. In other words, it calls into question the foundation of the existence of the third republic.
- B) the just result of the referendum of the people of Nagorno Karabakh held on December 10, 1991, based on the fundamental human right of self-determination of peoples and in accordance with internationally accepted norms, which is to declare Nagorno Karabakh an independent republic with the all rights thereof.
- C) the law adopted in 1992 in the National Council of Armenia (Parliament) at the initiative of the parliamentary faction of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (ADL), which prohibits any official body or official of Armenia from considering Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) as part of Azerbaijan.
Finally, it leaves the Artsakh Armenians who are surviving bravely under the severe conditions of the siege, and the national cultural monuments subject to an uncertain fate and the whims of a barbaric enemy.
Based on the above, it is unacceptable for the majority of the Armenian people living in the country, as well as for the diasporan Armenians in general, and for our representatives of ADL press in particular, that the prime minister who only a few years ago issued the statement “Artsakh is Armenia and that is that,” and thereby gained the support of the people, has now replaced his principled position with the diametrically opposite statement “Artsakh is part of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,” which is fundamentally wrong, opportunistic and reprehensible.
The ADL Press Council unreservedly responds to the May 22 call of the National Assembly of the Artsakh Republic, and accordingly appeals to all Armenians living in the homeland or outside it, to all Armenian national structures, and to all countries which are friends of the Armenian people and Armenia. It asks that they make their voice of support heard and conduct a practical intervention in favor of the heroic Republic of Artsakh and its people. Finally, it calls for opposition to any attempt at violating the borders of the Republic of Armenia or any defeatist attitude.
Long live the Armenian people!
Long live the inviolable borders of the third Republic of Armenia!
Long live free and independent Artsakh!
Long live our vision and goal of an integral Armenia!
ADL Press Council
May 25, 2023
(The above is a translation from the original Armenian.)
