Only a Fool Can Hope That Armenians and Azerbaijanis Will Merge in Nagorno-Karabakh: Zatuline

After everything that has happened in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone—both during the first and second wars, and the periods in between—only a fool or someone completely out of touch with reality can hope that Armenians and Azerbaijanis will merge in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was stated by Konstantin Zatuline, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration, and Connections with Compatriots, in an interview with a NEWS.am correspondent.

He emphasized that for peace to be achieved, there should at least be some foundation of justice in this world. “This was what prompted me to declare before the 44-day war that Karabakh should become independent, while the regions surrounding Karabakh—except for 1-2 corridor areas around Karabakh—should be handed over to Azerbaijan. The mediators were also working on the deferred status of Nagorno-Karabakh and the topic of holding a referendum there. All these issues now seem forgotten and overlooked.

It appears that the Armenian side, addressing those segments of the population that fear a resumption of war and scaring its own citizenry with this perspective, is pushing all those living in Armenia towards complicity to abandon their compatriots in Nagorno-Karabakh. This line was also present among supporters of the Western path in Armenia previously. Even during Levon Ter-Petrosyan's time, it was said that the Armenian population would live well when freed from the burden of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has hindered the development of trade and economic relations in the region. Today, this also tempts the populace.

The dark role of the current Armenian authorities and personally of Pashinyan is that they are trying to push the people to leave the compatriots in Artsakh to their fate,” the Russian MP noted. Zatuline does not believe peace can be achieved through such means, as such a peace is fraught with the memories of injustices done and carries the seeds of future conflicts.