WE SHOULD HAVE A TOUGH STANCE IN THE NEGOTIATIONS
Naira Khachatryan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
20 Nov 08
Armenia
"Azdak" club hosted Commander of "Arabo" detachment Manvel Yeghiazaryan
yesterday.
The experienced commander who had played a great role in Artsakh war
is sure that Azerbaijan will never stop making bellicose announcements
and will try to speak with Armenia from the positions of strength. The
incident recorded in Karabakh- Azerbaijani military contact line,
in the morning of November 16 testifies to the before mentioned.
"Azerbaijanis never do anything unintentionally. I know them very well.
Everything is well planned. Turkey is backing them, which is why
they are trying to intimidate us. By that action they tried to put
psychological pressure on us, to show that they can attack us any
time. They have most probably invented a legend about the killed
Azerbaijani soldier: something like "our soldier reached the Armenian
entrenchment, he was going to capture the entrenchment, and he was
killed."
In general Samvel Yeghiazaryan considers ridiculous the bellicose
announcements made by the Azerbaijanis, "I think the Azerbaijanis
have problem with their memory, they forgot what happened 15 years
back when they started the war. Today when they speak about war we
must remind them of their past. And we shouldn’t fear war, especially
because once we h ave won a victory in the war.
Anyhow M. Yeghiazaryan considers war an extreme measure for the
settlement of the conflict: "I’m a soldier and I have seen how a
person can tear into pieces by the blast. I have lost many friends,
whose dead bodies are still in Azerbaijan. I know what is war. Normal
person cannot like it. I hate wars, but in case of emergency we
shouldn’t avoid it. We have entered the 21st century but the wars
still continue. Georgia is a fresh example."
During Artsakh war by familiarizing himself with the tactics of
Azerbaijanis, the commander of "Arabo" detachment arrived at a
conviction that one should be harsh with them. "In my view our stance
must be tough during the negotiations. We must advance our clear
conditions, if they don’t agree then it is senseless to hold any
negotiations. I don’t see any other option. To jeopardize Karabakh
means to break the spine of the Armenian people. Our stance should
be harsh. Artsakh people are very brave."
In "harsh", "tough" stance Manvel Yeghiazaryan doesn’t exclude the
option of mutual concession. "You can’t establish peace without mutual
concession. No one wants to solve the issue by means of war.
In my view there must be mutual concession. It is very important to
clarify Artsakh’s status during the negotiations. Only after that
can we think
about all the other issues. They must also do their best to provide
the security of Lachin, Karvachar, and Zangelan. Those territories
can’t make part of Azerbaijan.
The freedom fighter expressed his opinion about the deployment of
peacekeeping forces. "Let them accept our conditions all the other
issues are up to the state figures to settle. If they decide that the
presence of the peacekeeping forces will contribute to the maintenance
of peace, let them deploy, but it shouldn’t be on the account of the
interests of the Armenian party.
I would like to underscore over again that the status of Karabakh
and the security issues are the priorities. In case Karabakh forms
part of Azerbaijan, believe me in one-two years we will appear in
blockade in Artsakh and we will have to fight with garden forks. So
it is very important to clarify the before mentioned issues."
M. Yeghiazaryan called society, all the political forces to be united
in Karabakh issue. "Today we shouldn’t think of whether or not we
like this or that person. We have also been offended many times but
when it comes to Artsakh, we should stand above all that stuff. The
opposition, the authorities, and society must be united. We must help
the negotiation process."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress