MILITANT CIVIL EGOISM
Naira Hayrumyan

olitics&pid=14905
12:51:45 – 12/08/2009

The opposition affirms that the authorities do not have enough courage
to admit that they have agreed to a disadvantageous version for the
Armenian side of settlement of the Karabakhi issue. In fact, the
authorities have long before acknowledged with the help of statements
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, or Galust Sahakyan and others,
let alone Mathew Bryza’s "revelations". So, it is the public not
to have enough courage to admit that this is really football, just
instead of a ball, the interests of the Armenian citizens are being
thrown in the field.

The direction, in which the Karabakhi conflict moves, was clear 2
years ago when the first report of the International Crisis Group
was published. But at that time both of the authorities and the
opposition rushed to hide behind a screen of privacy. They said that
not everything is clear, so when the final agreement is announced,
we will make statements. Now everything is clear to the limit, but
each of us would give a lot not to be the bearer of information on
the settlement principles.

That is why everyone pretends that privacy continues: both the
government and the opposition. Levon Zurabyan insists that not all the
details of the settlement are disclosed, as if there is a difference
when the referendum will be held, if only the miserable NKAR will
remain from the current territory of Karabakh. The television is
trying to prove: Matthew Bryza stated that the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan is the return of the seven districts, and NKAR, they
say, is not included there. And the Armenian society gets reconciled
with the idea that the recognition of the NKR in the territory of
Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region is the greatest achievement of
the Armenian people.

In normal countries, people delegate the responsibility for managing
the state and the foreign policy to the elected authorities. But
the delegation of powers does not mean to renounce the control and
responsibility for what happens in your country. Moreover, if the
authorities do not discuss with you its further steps, it even does
not consider important to inform you about its done steps. In such a
situation, self-respecting people, who can assess the reality, stop
looking in direction of the power and start solving their problems
themselves. Militant civil selfishness: that is what can help us. No
one can accuse a person or community of people of defending their vital
interests. On the contrary, it is difficult to understand when a person
is unable to assess their interest, or sacrifices them consciously.

It is obvious that the continuation of the negotiations in the current
format and on the proposed principles is a blatant denial of our
vital interests. And the only way out of this situation is to abandon
the talks. As the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan Oskanyan
stated, if we do not want to surrender the territories and the return
of refugees, we need to abandon the talks. And if the authority can
not find the courage to do so, it needs to say about it to the society
and parties, NGOs, individuals. Moreover, the convenient moment is
approaching – the rotation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
and the possibility of changing the format of the mediators.