FASCINATING KARABAKH
HAKOB BADALYAN
Lragir.am
14/05/10
Karabakh issue has become a hostage of the Armenian home political
life, while the Armenian home political life became the hostage
of the Karabakh issue. This mutual connection brought about an
economic-political and socio-psychological deadlock. On the one hand,
it is obvious that the current problems of Armenia have nothing in
common with the Karabakh dispute. As well, the settlement of this
conflict within the international logic and establishment of peace
and stable situation can hardly solve Armenian home fundamental
issues such as rigged election, economic and political monopolies,
business and power connection.
On the other hand, it is obvious that the Armenian home political
situation from time to time becomes a hostage of Karabakh: "Stay
calm, or we will lose Karabakh", "do not rally, this is the reason
why Azerbaijan tried to attack", "you help our enemies when dwelling
on democratic issues", and a series of other such kind of approaches
that the power uses during the whole period of independence.
More, oppositions during independence have also acknowledged this
fact which, not knowing what to do, explain their "being calm" with
the desire not to harm Karabakh. Let alone the fact that the only more
or less change of government occurred in Armenia was again determined
by the Karabakh issue.
The problem is how to come out of this situation of mutual connection
and change the public psychology explaining to it that as long as
the stability of the current economic-political, socio-psychological
situation is preserved, the challenges and dangers of Armenia and
NKR will become more because the world is moving forward changing
interests, moods and tactics.
The public perception with regards to the NKR issue is to be changed
making it understand that the key to the settlement of the NKR issue
is in Armenia. If someone really wants to solve this dispute, they
need to dwell on the Armenian home issues and their solutions: if the
intentions and wishes to see Armenia as a regional center are sincere,
everyone needs to stop making calculations in connection with home
issues proceeding from the NKR issue, hoping to carry out a shift of
government with its help: it is necessary to respect the territorial
integrity of Karabakh: the idea that the surrender of territories in
exchange of something is a synonym of peacefulness and pragmatism is to
be changed, just like the opinion that the opposite means bellicosity,
adventurousness, etc.
The Armenian National Congress in this context is seen as the
main oppositional force of the country which publicly assumed the
responsibility to change the situation in the country. But this
does not grant Congress the immunity of criticism. More, if Congress
assumed the role of the force to change the situation in the country,
its mistakes and shortcomings become fatal for the country.
Consequently, the demands towards Congress become bigger. It is quite
comprehensible that sometimes they can be dictated by political
reasons. But it is only waste of time for Congress to make them
self-protective measures. The example of the government is good in this
connection: it qualifies any criticism as a result of treachery but
doing this it appears in a ridiculous situation because the society
in the end prefers being led by facts and arguments.
The point is that the vocabulary of the Congress, during the last 1-1,
5 years, is "overwhelmed" with geopolitics and geopolitical analyses
and predictions of fatal solutions in the NKR issue. In other words,
the Congress, which seems in 2008 to have found a way to come out of
the circle of connection of NKR issue and the Armenian home life,
consciously or unconsciously, returns in the same circle. This is
the problem and not the fact that Congress is not active, decisive,
fundamental and unable of carrying out a revolution. The main problem
is that Congress deviated from its goal to establish a civil and legal
society and psychology and underestimated this job to foreign policy,
mainly, Karabakh issue.