ArmInfo. U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy's statement on the Artsakh population's role in deciding its fate did not contain any new messages, Chairman of the European Party of Armenia Tigran Khzmalyan said in an interview with ArmInfo.
"The fact is that the United States has always recognized the right to self-determination. Let us recall even the Roosevelt-Churchill negotiations on the fate of the British Empire during World War II. In this context, I do not see anything new in Ms Ambassador's statement. And if it is something new to us, it can only suggest that the wrong policy has been pursued for decades or that the Armenian political elite has been deceiving their own people," Mr Khzmalyan said.
The new thing is perhaps the fact that Armenian society has not been informed that there were not any contradictions between territorial integrity and the right to self-determination. Specifically, in contrast to constantly changing borders, the principle of self-determination is everlasting and inviolable. So in case this principle is adhered to, the rights to security and the fate of Armenia and, first of all, of Artsakh will be considered in the context of the law of the U.S., EU and of the rest of the civilized world.
According to Mr Khzmalyan, this is what the United States is giving hints about to Armenia time and again. And the last message was in the autumn of 2018, when Mr John Robert Bolton, then United States National Security Advisor, arrived in Yerevan to meet with Armenia's newly appointed Premier Nikol Pashinyan. That message contained proposals for arms supplies to Armenia. But it was in fact a proposal to make a choice between the Western and Eastern civilizations, Mr Khzmalyan said.