The liberated territories are the major guarantee of peace (analysis

The liberated territories are the major guarantee of peace (analysis)
By Armen Manvelyan

17.03.2006 13:05
“Radiolur”

Turning to the issue of liberated territories we should mention that
the time has come to understand that the question of territories cannot
be a matter of direct policy of concessions, since the past years have
proved that Azerbaijan carries out a policy, which can be characterized
in the following way – either everything or nothing. That is to say
that confident of its economic power Azerbaijan tries to turn it into
military one to resolve the conflict through military means. Under
these circumstances a different approach toward the liberated
territories solely prepares ground and encourages the opposing party,
which is confident that it can return these territories earlier
or later. Thus, turning to the Karabakh issue and particularly the
liberated territories, we should note that these have been liberated
at the price of Armenian blood and cannot become a matter of trade,
especially when we realize that the return of territories will not
bring peace. On the contrary, it will cause a new war in the region
by breaking the political balance. In this regard it needs to be
mentioned that the political map of Europe and the borders between
countries have been drawn not in the result of great love for each
other but as a consequence of two bloody World Wars. It is clear that
all European countries, or at least most of these are dissatisfied
with these borders.

Later, however, a decision was taken to recognize each other’s
territorial integrity and try to cooperate according to this principle
in order to stop the confrontations between the parties. According to
the same logics, our society should accept and recognize Armenia within
the borders, which are currently controlled by Armenian soldiers. The
liberated territories should not become a matter of trade. These
should be actively settled by Armenians forcefully displaced from
Azerbaijan. Thus, we can say that Armenia should be recognized within
the borders liberated by Armenian soldiers, and not the ones drawn
by Stalin.