SECRET CHARM OF INVENTIVENESS
Hakob Badalyan

LRAGIR.AM
16:44:06 – 20/04/2009

The Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, in his interview with the
Russian TV, presented the version of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
settlement which is now being negotiated. Considering the fact, that
Aliyev presented it right after the discussion with Medevdev, in other
words still in Moscow where the discussion took place, we may note
that what Aliyev presented is in fact agreed with Medvedev, moreover,
Medvedev’s statements after his meeting with Aliyev prove it too.

Merely, Aliyev, being a party of the conflict, thought of having all
the rights to loud the present version of the settlement, because in
case the mediators presented it with much detail, it would be evident
that they propose a unilateral compromise version to the sides. But,
when it is Aliyev to state it, the Armenian side is able to say that
Aliyev just exaggerates or lies in order to calm his society down. It
is evident that in this case when Aliyev states that the question
on the Nagorno-Karabakh status will be imprecisely prolonged, and
they will cede Lachin to the Armenians but the Armenian forces must
withdraw from the other territories and the Azerbaijani people should
return to Karabakh and Nagorno-Karabakh can never legally separate from
Azerbaijan, the Armenian government will insist that Ilham Aliyev’s
proposal must not be believed and Nagorno-Karabakh will never make
a part of the independent Azerbaijan.

In other words, like in case of the Armenian and Turkish relations,
in this case too, the Armenian side says what lacks but what exists
is kept secret again. This seems to become a diplomatic style, if it
has not already become. While, such a style is in logic contradiction
with the initiative and active foreign policy which Armenia undertook
after Serge Sargsyan presidency. How it is possible to be active and
initiative and keep this inventiveness and activeness secret at the
same time.

The Armenian side has not to reveal all the nuances and details
of the negotiations, but when everyone reveals something – Bryza,
Fassier, Medvedev, Gyul, Erdogan, Babacan, Aliyev, the Armenian side
is surprising by not revealing anything. Sure, the society, should
first of all believe its own government. But what it has to believe
if the government says almost nothing, except that the others should
not be believed.

The point is that even if we assume that our public loves and respects
our government very much, at least the 52 percent of the society,
it is all the same, our society may hardly be imagined to idolize the
government and believe without seeing. So, the government has to show
the public not only whom to believe but also what to believe.
From: Baghdasarian