LEVON MELIK-SHAHNAZARYAN: BEING NOBLE DOES NOT MEAN BEING A COWARD
Gita Elibekyan

"Radiolur"
11.02.2009 17:58

Turning to the Karabakh issue the Turkish Hurriyet Daily wrote that
"Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a partial agreement on a solution plan
for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. According to the plan, Armenia
will return some of the towns surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh
including Kelbajar to Azerbaijan." The paper stated also that the
railroad and highway between Azerbaijan and Armenia will be opened,
while an international peace force will be deployed at the border
region between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

"This is the recurrent misinformation of the Hurriyet," political
scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan says, noting that such an agreement
could not have been reached, if at least on of the proposals of the
Minsk Group remains undecided.

"The main issue for us is the status of Nagorno Karabakh, while for
them it is important to regain the territorial integrity of Soviet
Azerbaijan.

These are contradicting issues," the political scientist said.

According to Melik-Shahnazaryan, until recently Azerbaijan’s threats
of starting war were mainly meant for the outer world, i.e. if they
don’t help Azerbaijan solve the Karabakh issue, it will launch war,
and different countries will suffer.

The Azeri side is actively spreading hatred among the public, in
textbooks and press, Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan says, adding that he
watches the Azerbaijani programs and reads the newspapers. "They use
the word enemy instead of the word Armenian, and present Armenians
as bloodsuckers" he said.

The political scientist considers that from time to time Azerbaijan
should be reminded that we are not a nation that loves war, we are
a nation that manages to win the war.

"The world should understand that being noble does not mean being a
coward," Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan concluded.