Navigate
X
    Emil Lazarian
  • 3 years ago
    • Categories: 2021

Armenian President wants Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh "forever"

PanArmenian, Armenia
Nov 8 2021
November 8, 2021 – 18:47 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian President Armen Sarkissian believes that the Russian peacekeepers should stay in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) forever.

“The Russian army has been on this territory for decades and centuries, its presence is extremely important. What the peacekeepers are doing is of great importance for regional politics, and for possible negotiations on the status of Karabakh, on the future of the region, so that there is no war tomorrow,” Sarkissian said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty.

Asked about the reasons of defeat of the Armenian side in the second war in Artsakh, Sarkissian said the Armenians won the first war because they were 2-3 years ahead of Azerbaijan in terms of army building, the involvement of Armenians who served in the Soviet army and fought in Afghanistan.

The President noted that the Armenian side had 26 years to translate that victory into a stable peace "but we didn't take that chance and were left behind."

"Because Azerbaijan, even under the leadership of Heydar Aliyev, realized that oil is their advantage. And it did everything to take it to the international market. As a result, we lost all our advantages over time. In addition, the Azerbaijani side purchased large quantities of weapons, openly brought NATO weapons to the battlefield through Turkey, and gathered thousands of mercenaries from all over the world. I asked my colleagues in Brussels – what do you think about the fact that a NATO member went to war with Armenia? What problems does Armenia have with NATO? Well, of course, I did not receive an answer, Turkey has a special status there," Sarkissian said.

Russian peacekeepers were deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10, 2020, immediately after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev signed a statement to end the war in Karabakh after almost 45 days. Under the deal, the Armenian side returned all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.

Emil Lazarian: “I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS