The "Shushi Declaration" signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey on June 15, 2021 in occupied Shushi, and then ratified by their respective parliaments, is an undisguised threat to Armenia and Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)], which officially confirms and reaffirms a hostile policy against Armenia and Armenians and ensuing actions deriving as a result. The Country to Live party of Armenia has noted this in a statement it released Tuesday. The statement continues as follows:    In particular, as before, the declaration now stipulates that the Artsakh issue is "resolved", despite the statements of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries that the issue of a comprehensive settlement of the status of Artsakh remains on the agenda of the OSCE Minsk Group. 

The agenda of forming a "one nation, two states" alliance of Turkic-speaking countries is enshrined as a strategic goal of Turkey and Azerbaijan, [and] moreover, the "Zangezur Corridor" is considered a priority in terms of achieving that goal, considered separate from the process of unblocking communications in the region.  The recent working group set up by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, which aims to once again eliminate and distort the Armenian cultural heritage at the state level, once again proves that we are dealing with retaliatory steps by antagonist countries, whose long-term goal is to place the region under the sole Turkish sphere of influence. 

At the same time, the Armenian government continues to push forward the agenda of opening an "era of peace" inadequate to these challenges, considering it exclusively a process of unblocking roads, when in fact we can only achieve peace after establishing  the inadmissibility of the use of force, the threat of force, the exclusion of hatred, propaganda of hostility at the state level, and the way of achieving the solution of problems in a constructive atmosphere of negotiations without preconditions. In this context, the foreign policy agenda should continue to be dominated by the Artsakh status agenda as a real guarantee of security and long-term stability. At the same time, it is necessary to develop and implement a clear reform policy strategy in the field of army building. 

The clearly destructive and presumptuous manner of conduct by Azerbaijan is not only left without an adequate response from the international community, but also indirectly is even  "encouraged", especially when the international community seeks to equate the aggressor with the party affected by the aggression. The recent announcement of € 2 billion in EU aid to the authoritarian Azerbaijan raises a number [of] questions, including the EU's commitment to democratic values and their promotion in the region.  As the above-mentioned issues have strategic importance in the context of building a real and lasting peace in our region, the "Country to Live" party is going to present its circumstantial concerns to the ambassadors accredited to Armenia and international representations, as well as propose concrete actions against cultural vandalism.