The majority of the soldiers of the Karabakh war are against any kind of talks about settling the Karabakh conflict through compromises, especially when it comes to the proposal of handing over the liberated territories to Azerbaijan. Most of them say that that is just betrayal.
During a press conference at the National Press Club, director of the “In Defense of the Liberated Territories” organization and commander of the Shushi army Zhirair Sefilyan expressed the same opinion. According to him, the Karabakh conflict was settled back in the 1990s and to agree with conducting a referendum for the Karabakh status means to “betray the homeland”. Sefilyan is aloso against any election in Karabakh.
“I am against having Armenia look at Karabakh as a separate state or country. Karabakh is a front and you can’t conduct elections at the front. An election splits things up,” says Sefilyan.
As for the Karabakh conflcit settlement, he says:
“Most of the people have one thing to say: this is our homeland and we are the rightful owners. This is the majority. If the pitiful authorities dare to take action, then the people will respond. You will all see the response. I am sure about that and I am going to be one of the first to take the initiative.”
The participants of the Karabakh war are planning to do everything they can so that the current Armenian authorities don’t get the same places in the parliament because, according to Sefilyan, change of power will lead the country to a downfall. That’s why he says that unting the people is a priority for the country.
“We have to unite as one now and prohibit the same authorities to come to power. We can’t allow electoral fraud. It doesn’t matter who comes to power next; there can’t be any electoral fraud and the same authorities,” says Sefilyan.
The former soldier says that he hasn’t forgotten the events which took place in the early morning of April 13, 2004. He says that they are not going to let the authorities attack the people, regardless of who gathered those people at the Opera square or Baghramian street. They are going to defend the people.
In regard to the current situation of the Karabakh conflict settlement, Sefilyan believes that OSCE American co-chairman Matthew Bryza’s announcements are not aimed towards the Karabakh conflict settlement, rather they are tied to regional developments and the Iran issue. Sefilyan adds that the U.S. is using the Karabakh conflict in order to pressure the Armenian authorities so that it can separate Armenia from Russia and move it out of the region. Zhirair Sefilyan doesn’t think it’s good that Armenia is only pro-Russian. Director of the “In Defense of the Liberated Territories” is amazed to see that the Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanyan is in favor of compromising the territories and is often making announcements about that.
“I see two goals for Oskanyan’s frequent announcements. First of all, Oskanyan wants to let the Americans know that Armenia is ready for anything because Kocharyan has told him to do so. Secondly, Oskanyan has started telling the people what he is told to say,” says Sefilyan.
After criticizing the Armenian authorities, Zhirair Sefilyan made an interesting comment. According to him, the reason for the current situation is due to the fact that the opposition backed down when it was time to take decisive steps. He believes that there is a need for a decisive political figure and according to him, that decisive political figure is leader of the
”Alliance” party and former minister of defense of Karabakh Samvel Babayan.
P.S. Participant of the Karabakh war Zhirair Sefilyan has asked President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan for Armenian citizenship several times, but he has always been rejected.
“I don’t think the president will ever sign under a document certifying or recognizing my citizenship,” said Zh. Sefilyan.