“Let’s not forget that even if a war starts, the commander-in-chief is and always will be the president of Armenia and he will have to fulfill his duties. If a war starts, we will demand that he do what he has to do,” said L. Mkrtchyan. He added: “But I don’t feel a war coming. Negotiations are still in the process and it’s not like Armenia is in a labyrinth. I don’t think that the ARF has to review its policies because everything is in order. The country is still in peace and the international community agrees with many of our opinions.”
The ARF member considers Azerbaijan’s war declarations as ridiculous and says that Azerbaijan “will lose more than it lost before with the restart of a war.”
In response to the question as to whether or not Robert Kocharyan will resign if a war starts, just like first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan did, Mkrtchyan said:
“I don’t think that Ter-Petrosyan resigned because of a possible war. At the time, there was no danger of war. Besides that, in my opinion, war is not a good reason for a president to resign. Armenia is not facing that problem now and even if it does, it will be very deep. Nobody knows what will happen. But if a war starts, the ARF will demand that Robert Kocharyan fulfills his duties as supreme commander-in-chief. But let’s be honest; there will be no war in Armenia. Armenia is for peace, but Armenia and Karabagh are both ready to defend their countries respectively.”
Then Levon Mkrtchyan referred to the people who called Robert Kocharyan’s announcement on television as a “declaration of war”.
“What do you expect us to do-get scared and surrender? How can you get scared of a threat immediately?”
That is exactly how Kocharyan’s coalitional partner Galust Sahakyan called the interview on television.
“In my opinion, that (referring to the comment made by Robert Kocharyan that Armenia will finally recognize Karabagh’s independence if Azerbaijan continues declaring war-L.S.), was a war declaration,” said G. Sahakyan during a briefing at the National Assembly yesterday. According to Sahakyan, Robert Kocharyan is making those kinds of announcements simply because he is rushing.
“Armenia has always recognized Karabagh’s independence and has considered Karabagh as an inseparable part of Armenia,” said G. Sahakyan yesterday. He added that despite the fact that this may cause a scandal, however, it is not the way to solve the issue.
As for member of the “National Unity” faction Aghasi Arshakyan, he is of the opinion that Robert Kocharyan’s interview shown to a “limited number of people” was more of a populist act because both Kocharyan and Aliev have basically fooled the people.
“That is why Aliev and Kocharyan are making it seem like the conflict is more complicated than it actually is,” says A. Arshakyan and says that if Armenia’s recognition of Karabagh’s independence were to be considered essential, then it should have been done 13 years ago.
“So, I really don’t feel a war coming right now. Both sides are simply trying to draw the people’s attention to this conflict and make them forget about other problems,” said the “National Unity” MP about Kocharyan’s interview on television.
Levon Mkrtchayn, however, says that Robert Kocharyan’s answers to the questions given during the interview were adequate to the Azerbaijani authorities and president Aliev so that they will no longer try to “scare” the Armenian people with their war declarations.
“The only reason that Armenia hasn’t made such brisk comments about the conflict throughout the past years is because it didn’t want to. Armenia wanted to keep the negotiations going at a smooth pace. The president not only responded to the war declarations made by Aliev for a year, but also Aliev’s comments which have gotten to the point where he is threatening the Armenian people with their improved army and the restart of a war. It’s obvious that the Armenian president had to give an appropriate answer. What the president meant was that if the negotiations are going to end, then Armenia will do what it has always been ready to do,” says L. Mkrtchyan. “The ARF has always said that Armenia will never back down because of a war. We have fought for our country and whichever side starts a war will try to invade the other’s homeland.” Both Levon Mkrtchyan and the authorities hope that the people will sense the right time to unite and fight back. But before all hope is gone, there is another variant.
“Regional and cosmopolitan changes will not allow a war to happen. After all, the result of a war will either be a treaty or capitulation agreement. Azerbaijan will finally be capitulated, or will be forced to recognize Karabagh’s independence. But if it takes that step, the future will not be so promising. I just think that this is yet another one of Azerbaijan’s tricks and there is no such danger facing the region,” said leader of the ARF faction, emphasizing the fact that he totally agrees with whatever Kocharyan has to say. As for the announcement made by Arkadi Ghukasyan, L. Mkrtchyan is certain that this was yet another chance for Ghukasyan to speak out to the people after the Rambeau meeting with “no results”.
The National Assembly’s “Justice” alliance, which had just recently joined the coalition and agreed with the opinions expressed by Armenian authorities about Karabagh, said the following about Kocharyan’s interview without even being informed about the current stage of the negotiations.
“The Karabagh conflict will be settled after the democratic elections in Armenia.”
MP of the alliance Grigor Harutyunyan said yesterday that he demanded that the National Assembly host sessions on this issue and invite Kocharyan and Vartan Oskanyan. It’s a little late for that-the opposition has already granted the “illegitimate” authorities permission to go along with their decisions, even if it predicts the restart of a war.