Note – This article was published in The Valley of Death by Tatul Hakobyan. The article was first published in 2016.
Whether it is done as part of a package deal or step-by-step
The speaker of Artsakh’s prime minister Artak Beglaryan has recently reminded that based on the sociological survey conducted by the organization called IPSN in 2016, 99.7% of Nagorno Karabakh population is opposed to the return of 7 territories to Azerbaijan, even if Artsakh is recognized as an independent state, while 99.4% of the people are against the step-by-step deal.
Moreover, around 82% of the respondents told the interviewers of IPSN, that even if there are international pressures on the government of Artsakh, the people of Nagorno Karabakh should go out and defend their homeland by arms.
The first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan touched upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in his hour-long speech. “There is no other solution to the conflict of Nagorno Karabakh, but the step-by-step deal. The document which is being discussed at the negotiating table today, is nothing new, but the same is it was in 1997 and that document suggests an intermediate international recognition of Nagorno Karabakh in return for some territories, while the final status of Karabakh will be left to the future, after international peace keeping forces are installed on the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijan”.
Ter-Petrosyan also touched upon a syllogism of “a paradoxical but still original political mindset”.
- You give up one part and gain another.
- You don’t give up anything, you lose everything
- The one keeps something is tagged as a traitor, while the one who loses everything is called a patriot
Exactly one month before Ter-Petrosyan’s famous speech, Armenia’s third president
also presented about his vision of Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution. On November 17 of 2016, Serzh Sargsyan spoke about concessions, with possible return of 7 territories.
“There have been several occasions when we have been close to signing a peace deal with Azerbaijan, which was based on three main principles of – non-use of force or threat of use of force, territorial integrity and self-determination. If signed, the Armenian parties, Armenia and Artsakh would pull back their military forces from the security zones around Nagorno Karabakh. These are the 7 territories which Azerbaijanis consider as occupied”, Sargsyan stated.
During his career as a high level public official Serzh Sargsyan spoke about his vision of conflict resolution numerous times. In 2001, at his capacity of defense minister Sargsyan said “The state borders of any country, including ours, are located where you are able to keep them. Yes, I do believe that Agdam is not part of our homeland. If you are involved in negotiations and are trying to full the other party, it creates nothing but irony”.
In 2006, Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan also spoke about the possible return of 6.5 territories. “There are territories, which are outside of Karabakh’s administrative boundaries and are under Armenian control. We have repeatedly stated, that besides the territory of Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous region and the corridor of Lachin, we are ready to discuss possible land return to Azerbaijan”.
An important reminder here is, that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who introduced various peace documents to all three leaders of Armenia since the independence, continuously suggested that Armenia and Artsakh should pull the military back from 7 territories, except for the corridor of Lachin. It is a fact though, that since 1994 none of the leaders of Armenia or Artsakh made any territorial concessions, except for the 800 hectares of land, which Azerbaijan was able to take back by force as a result of the 4-day war in 2016.
December 18, 2016
