Three days ago marked the 18th anniversary of the Karabagh movement. All I can say is that that movement really meant a lot to me. I was 23 at the time and was filled with enthusiasm. It was a movement paving the path towards peace. Then came independence, after which some victorious battles, and then Karabagh became part of Armenia. All this brought along chaos, the sense of pride and faith. We were in chaos because we feared for the lives of the soldiers fighting in the Karabagh war. We were proud of our victories and we believed in a prosperous future. Nobody has ever realized that, despite all the defeats and losses, the victory in Karabagh helped instill faith in us.
Cease-fire was declared, but the conflict was still in the center of attention. The cease-fire gave us an opportunity to relax and take a moment to reflect on what had happened during the 6 year war, which can be explained in one word-terror. This one word describes the thousands of deceased and handicapped soldiers, destroyed homes and mine fields, moral/psychological defects. Besides ending the war with cease-fire, we had to overcome all the difficulties of that terror.
If my memory serves me right, during the period after the cease-fire, the Karabagh conflict gradually lost its meaning, which was to give the people of Karabagh the right to actually live. But that time was used wisely for political debates, repetitive diplomatic meetings, etc.
The Armenians living in Karabagh had the self-determination right, but that was used against them by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan was more based on the territorial integrity principle. If I am not mistaken, the Armenian population of Karabagh wanted to be self-determined in order to solve certain social/economic and cultural issues. Now, twelve years after cease-fire, everyone wants to know what has actually been done to solve those issues for Karabagh, which is officially and non-officially recognized as part of Armenia.
We can bring up many facts for the deniers, however, those facts have to do with the country. Armenia has been in a blockade for the past sixteen years and since Azerbaijan and Turkey are closing all borders and communication routes, Armenia is trying to overcome all the obstacles on its own.
“True,” say the deniers, “but what have Armenian authorities done to improve living conditions in Armenia and Karabagh after the war?”
While talking about the blockades limiting the chances of economic development during a conference in September 1997, former Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan said that he did not see such a bright future for then journalist Sergey Yeritsyan (“Things are not looking too good for you in the future, my dear Sergo”). At the same time, his oppositionist side claimed that Armenia’s economy was not good because the authorities were not doing their job well; that the blockades and economic instability is due to the fact that Armenians are not united as one, that they are not organized and they can’t make decisions.
Even eight years after this conference, the deniers don’t believe that Armenian authorities have done anything to improve life in Armenia and Karabagh. Of course, it is pretty impressive that Armenia’s capital city has been beautified after years of being in blockade, but you don’t get that impression when you are 20-30 kilomters away from the capital, much less further.
One time, Robert Kocharyan said that we can beat Azerbaijan’s rich oil reserves with our organizational skills. Of course, you can feel proud of being organized and you can make a living with organizational skills, just like the laboratory worker makes a living by coming up with an invention which he is not too sure will work. How can a state be organized when it doesn’t have intimate ties with two of the countries and can’t really hope for much with the other two? What can that state give its neighboring state Karabagh, which is fighting for autonomy, besides some money from the state budget and the Armenians living in the Diaspora.
Judging from the fact that after twelve years of cease-fire, Armenia has not been able to bring people to Shushi and the old residents to their homes in Martakert due to lack of jobs, and the fact that the social/economic status as well as cultural life are in a downfall, there can be no autonomy in Karabagh. In addition, that autonomy will soon fade away and will no longer be discussed among negotiators. Those negotiations will turn into more of a game of ping-pong with a little twist: the sides will not be playing with each other, but rather they will be playing with the wall.
And I was actually thinking that Karabagh would be autonomous and took part in the Karabagh movement 18 years ago, when I was just 23 years old. After all, isn’t autonomy the best way one can express his independence?