The Issue of Prisoners Should Be Directed to the Russian Ambassador, They Are the Guarantors: MP "Hraparak"

Arthur Manukyan, an MP from the My Step coalition, admitted a day ago that their government is unable to negotiate the return of prisoners with the opposing side, indicating that it is Russia's responsibility. Manukyan perhaps did not know that a day later, Prime Minister Pashinyan would announce in parliament that it was false that the Chief of General Staff, Onik Gasparyan, did not report on the fourth day of the war that it should be stopped at all costs, and referenced Gasparyan's report during their conversation. This is reported by "Hraparak".

By the way, Manukyan has not yet decided whether he will continue his political career or return to acting. He admits that he has not been able to be useful to the cultural sector in a legislative capacity, stating that due to objective reasons, cultural issues were pushed back due to the coronavirus, the war, and so on: "2020 started with more problems than our strengths or the world's strengths could handle." He believes: "War is a consequence of circumstances. Even the most war-hungry person cannot start a war by decision alone, or some statement from someone become the cause of a war; it's childish to think that way. War has a logic that has formed over the years. There is no country that has not fought its war—the French, Germans, Japanese, all have had their wars for hundreds of years."

In every situation, the war should have been, and it is not sincere for your leader to claim it happened because of the previous leaders.

Serzh Sargsyan also said that a war should happen; he claimed that we agreed to give up those territories because there would be a war. And we did not want to give up those territories, which is why there was a war. No citizen of Armenia wanted to give them away just like that. There was a chance, they wanted to understand whether they could hold their homeland against 90 million Turks.

Ordinary citizens may not have calculated all this, but you are the government; you are responsible for all of us. Besides that, from the first days of the war, even at least in the middle, wasn’t it difficult to understand and stop it to avoid so many casualties?

No, it's not difficult; it was understood, and the fact that it was understood is evident from the efforts made after the appropriate report from the General Staff and generals. Look at the 12-hour conversation of our foreign minister with Lavrov, what is that—a war-stopping attempt?

But Putin stated that on October 19, Pashinyan did not agree to a variant without Shushi.

Yes, the conditions were such that it was not possible to agree. And we should have tried to understand—we tried, but couldn't.

In terms of human lives?

War is the worst thing that humanity has invented because it takes lives. But if there are people in your country willing to sacrifice their lives for the motherland, and then not to be blamed for being ready while you simply gave away those territories.

Essentially, the government knew it was unable to fight, and we suffered so many casualties so that Nikol Pashinyan would not be called a traitor.

You know, even before Sardarapat, military figures understood it was an impossible war, but because the Armenian people had seen Sardarapat, we couldn't think that this was a different people. Yes, at the time of Sardarapat, Armenians had their bodies as weapons, while the Turks had modern weapons. And it turned out that it worked in the 20th century but didn’t work in the 21st. Do you know anyone who knew what would work in the 21st century and what wouldn’t? If you do, go interview them or let them come and speak.

Robert Kocharyan was sitting in the Headquarters in Stepanakert.

Nikol Pashinyan did not allow anyone to approach the headquarters, the military figures who had won the previous war.

Yes, they were not allowed because there is headquarters, members of the headquarters; let him go sit in a trench like I did.

Can wars be managed from a trench?

What do you want from me? Let’s summarize, when it became clear that we couldn't, that day the search for a peace path began.

The government has announced that it is going for elections; with what programs, how will you ask for the citizen's vote if, six months after the war, Pashinyan cannot resolve the issue of the return of prisoners?

The Azerbaijanis behave basely and inhumanely; what can we do?

Didn’t you know in advance that our opponent is not benevolent?

The Russians, particularly Putin, have reassured the government, asking that the issue of prisoners be directed to the Russian ambassador, and let him convey it to Vladimir Vladimirovich. They assured that those agreements should be fulfilled.

You are our government; why should we address them, or are you no longer our government?

We have no contact with Azerbaijan; our communication is carried out through them; the guarantor of that communication and the solution to that issue is the Russian Federation represented by Vladimir Vladimirovich.

So we have no statehood in Armenia, or are we now Russian citizens? Where are our national interests? Why hasn’t our leader set a clear demand that if the agreement is violated, this or that will be done or not done? One parent of a missing person said, “Return Karvachar at a time when you give us all prisoners.”

The Azerbaijani state behaves like a terrorist. They are holding people hostage; if you have not read books, at least you have seen movies; negotiating with a hostage-holding criminal is always very difficult and impossible.

So, our authorities do not have leverage to enforce the return of our prisoners...

What should we do—declare war?

If you are even unable to resolve the issue of the return of prisoners, why should citizens vote for you again? It appears we could manage without the government or we must turn to the Russian authorities for our issues.

The people will answer that question: whether they want to see us in power or not. And as much as the issue of prisoners is ours, it is also partly Russian and globally significant; I mean it not emotionally or sentimentally but rather from a legal standpoint.

But it is not Russian citizens who have been captured; it is our compatriots.

The Russians are the guarantors of resolving that issue; if they are not able to, what should I say?

And who the heck are we?

We are the affected party, and now we are waiting to see when Russia will bring those people to their senses; those people are unconscious terrorists, and they speak with terrorists in a special way, while the Republic of Armenia cannot currently speak in that special way. What do you want us to do, declare war on Baku? If you are capable, let’s declare war for the sake of prisoners.

It turns out that we must give them whatever they want to get our captured people back.

What do you want from me? In movies, you have probably seen when a terrorist attack occurs; the sheriffs, the police wait silently for someone in charge to speak.

And if no one wants to speak for us, if relationships are spoiled, won’t we get our prisoners back?

Every day we communicate with Russia, urging them to spare no effort.

And why aren’t the Russians returning them?

I don’t know; maybe they are not capable.