Pres. Sargsyan: Choice Between Rejecting Pressures by Turkey &
Azerbaijan or Graceful Exit
By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine
Issue #1200 March 26, 2010
Artsakh Armenian Republic (Nagorno-Karabakh), located at the heart of
energy transit region linking the oil-rich fields of the Caspian Sea
to Europe via Turkish-occupied Western Armenia, Turkish-occupied
Cilicia and Turkey, recently became topic of international debate.
On March 23, the Reuters news agency quoted President Serzh Sargsyan
as saying, during an official visit to Syria that "Armenian forces
could give back some Azeri territory held since the war between the
two countries in return for security and self-determination for the
region of Nagorno-Karabakh."
Reuters reported Pres. Sargsyan as making the following comment to the
Syrian newspaper Al-Watan: "Contrary to the claims of Azerbaijan, we
do not populate and use the territories, which are the security zone
of Nagorno-Karabakh … When the people of Karabagh get a true chance
to realize their right to self-determination and mechanisms for
security and development are created, then in compromise the Armenian
side can consider the return of the regions around Karabagh,
preserving the corridor linking Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia."
Back on March 4, in an article titled "Deputy Chief of Staff to the
President of Armenia, Vigen Sargsyan Undermines Armenia’s National
Security," I had strongly criticized Mr. V. Sargsyan for his misguided
statements regarding the territories of both the highlands and the
lowlands of Artsakh Armenian Republic.
In that article I had reported that in February, Mr. V. Sargsyan
during a lecture in Washington, DC, and in response to a question
from Mr. Kazari of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in
Washington, DC, had astonishingly said the following regarding the
current Armenian-Azeri border: "All those important parts of the
borders can be de-blocked. Our immediate borders between Armenia and
Azerbaijan have nothing to do with the territories around Nagorno
Karabagh. … Now as far as the occupation, our concerns are very much
in favor [of] … what is important [is that] the president of Armenia
[Serzh Sargsyan], who was the Minister of Defense of these
territories, has always stated that he does not think of these
territories as historic Armenian lands. He always stated that these
territories have to return to Azerbaijan when the settlement of
Nagorno-Karabagh is found."
I had asked: "Is Mr. V. Sargsyan aware that the territories
surrounding mountainous Artsakh have always been part of Armenia?"
And I had added: "The now-liberated territories around Artsakh are
part of the entire Region of Artsakh that extends to the Kura River,
just east of the border between the Republic of Artsakh and the former
Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. Mr. V. Sargsyan should know,
the Artsakh Region along with Nakhitchevan was arbitrarily carved out
of the 1918-1920 independent Republic of Armenia. These regions were
part of Armenia up until its takeover by the Soviet occupation forces
in November 1920. In 1921, soon after Sovietization, Armenia was
subjected to the process of ‘Stalinization’ when the infamous Soviet
Dictator Josef Stalin ‘gifted’ the entire Region of Artsakh with its
lowlands and highlands; and Nakhitchevan to the then newly created
Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan."
I had continued: "Presently, the Republic of Azerbaijan continues to
illegally occupy 1) The northern Artsakh district of Shahumian; and
Gandzak (Kirovabad); 2) the outlying lowlands that extend to Kura
River; and 3) Nakhitchevan. One wonders if Pres. Serzh Sargsyan is
aware of his Deputy Chief of Staff V. Sargsyan’s latest serious
international blunder (to say the least), undermining Armenia’s
national security interests during a lecture in Washington, DC. By
using the misleading term ‘occupation,’ Mr. V. Sargsyan should feel
ashamed for having committed an act of blasphemy against the memory of
thousands of innocent Armenian victims of the 1988 Azeri pogroms in
Baku, Sumgait and Gandzak/Kirovabad and their deportation staged by
Azerbaijan. Mr. V. Sargsyan also disrespected the memory of countless
freedom fighters that liberated Artsakh from the Azeri yoke during the
Artsakh Liberation War (1991-1994) which was in response to the 1988
Azeri crimes against defenseless Armenians."
Little did I know that a few weeks later, a similarly self-defeatist
comment on Artsakh would be made by the president himself!
I would like to respectfully point out to President Sargsyan that the
First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossyan gracefully resigned
rather than confronting the then fast-heightening domestic and
international opposition to his proposed compromise on Artsakh
Armenian Republic (Karabagh).
During the presidency of Mr. Robert Kocharyan, to his credit, Pres.
Kocharyan managed to avoid giving-in to the pressure mounted by the
neo-con lackeys of Turkey and Azerbaijan in the United States and
Europe.
One wonders if Mr. Serzh Sargsyan’s ascendancy to presidential power
has given the neo-cons the "golden opportunity" to corner the
fledgling Sargsyan administration and to attempt to carve out maximum
amount of concessions from him on 1) Artsakh (Karabagh); 2) Armenian
Genocide issue; 3) Worldwide demands from Turkey for the return of the
Turkish-occupied lands in Western Armenia and Cilicia to their
rightful owners the Armenians; 4) Demands from Turkey for restitution
on real and personal properties illegally confiscated from the victims
of the Armenian Genocide; 5) The claims on the return of
Azeri-occupied Nakhitchevan Autonomous Republic, Azeri-occupied
Artsakh Northern district of Shahumyan, and Azeri-occupied Gandzak to
Armenians.
In order to preserve his shaky administration, it’s all too obvious
that Pres. Sargsyan has only two choices in order to somehow continue
being in the good grace of his people both in Armenia and the
Diaspora.
Option A: As president of Armenia, he rejects the pressures mounted by
Ankara and Baku, and backs off making irretrievably damaging
concessions to Turkey and Azerbaijan under the auspices of their
neo-con lackeys in the West;
Option B: Before selling out Armenia, Artsakh (Karabagh); world
Armenians and their Cause, and in order to avoid becoming a target for
criticism and even rejection by generations to come, Mr. Sargsyan
resigns from the presidency for the sake of giving his people the
choice to courageously tackle the challenges ahead with a strong sense
of determination; and to pave the way for a brighter future.