THE LIBERATED TERRITORIES CAN NEVER BE AN OBJECT FOR MUTUAL CONCESSIONS – ARARAT DAVTYAN
Hetq
December 01, 2008
A Hetq Interview with Lernik Hovhannisyan, Secretary of the ARF
Artsakh Youth Union
Mr. Hovhannisyan, recently, at the initiative of your organization,
youth groups in Artsakh participated in "round table" discussion
of the Karabakh issue. What resulted was a condemnation of those
statements that "call into question the justice and victory achieved
by the blood of thousands of Armenia’s sons". What was meant by this?
The young people of Artsakh cannot remain indifferent to what is being
said in the press and by certain political leaders on the issue. For
us, those views, that call for the exchange of Armenian lands for
other Armenian lands are unacceptable; for example Shahumyan for
Aghdam. Especially when we are talking about returning the liberated
territories.
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email to friend These are historic Armenian lands as witnessed by the
city of Tigranakert and the recent discovery of medieval Armenian
stone crosses in the Aghdam region. There are other sources that
confirm that the liberated territories are Armenian. For instance,
there are 17th century Persian sources that speak about the presence
of the Armenian Meliks. As a result, we condemn all approaches that
assume any change to the territories as set forth in the Constitution
of the RMK (Republic of Mountainous Karabakh).
Thankfully, the government of the RMK shares this opinion. We are
certain, just as the RMK government is certain, that any attempt to
settle the Artsakh conflict without the participation of the RMK is
doomed to failure.
In other words, Artsakh must have an equal place at the negotiations
table and the RMK Foreign Ministry is actively taking steps to
achieve such an objective. Proof of this is the fact that the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-chairs, during their last visit, held closed meetings
at the RMK National Assembly.
Can we infer from your statement that the people of Artsakh will not
accept any agreement that includes a return of various lands?
As an ARF representative let me say that our party has made its
position clear on many occasions. The Artsakh Central Committee, and
the Supreme Council of Armenian and the ARF Bureau, have stated that
there can be no discussion of the return of any lands. This view has
also been expressed by the RMK authorities.
But the Armenian side has always noted that the Artsakh conflict
must be resolved via mutual concessions. If this is the case what
concessions will we grant?
We have already made concessions. First, we agreed to the 1994
ceasefire.
Second. The Republic of Armenia has yet to recognize the independence
of Artsakh. The liberated territories can never become the object of
concessions. We have nothing to return. Furthe rmore, a portion of
the RMK, the region of Getashen, Shahumyan and parts of Martuni and
Martakert, remain occupied by Azerbaijan. The issue of their return
must be put on the negotiations table as well.
It seems that on an official level we are not making such claims. All
the while Azerbaijan comes forth with much stronger demands and
our authorities counter this by stating that the conflict must be
resolved through concessions on the two sides. In the context of
what you stated, doesn’t it appear that the current negotiations that
have been going on for years are redundant? Negotiations are always
useful but they must continue without any reference to the return
of any lands. All of us are aware that if such a thing happens the
threat of warfare grows.
What about the international security guarantees that are being
discussed?
In any event, the final guarantor of security is our army and this
was proved back in March and just recently with the attempted Azeri
military incursion. We can agree to the presence of any international
force on RMK lands. Yes there will be such pressures brought to bear
but we must resist them and build our statehood in unison.