120,000 people will live or be slaughtered, it doesn't matter, because there are some goals: Davit Babayan

The advisor to the President of Artsakh and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Davit Babayan believes that despite the increased pressure on Artsakh, there is still an opportunity to resist, as reported by NEWS.am.

“Recently, we see that the rhetoric and actions have intensified, even at the border with Armenia, where the President of Turkey visited Azerbaijan with a large delegation. All this also exerts some geopolitical pressure on the international community, on the actors involved, and on us. However, regardless of everything, we must resist all these pressures. There are possibilities, and the formula here is very simple: we must continue to approach the issue in a principled and professional manner. Turkey and Azerbaijan are certainly trying to demonstrate that the decisive role is theirs, but that is not the case; there are also other forces that, if worked with correctly, can help mitigate and neutralize these dangerous vectors,” Babayan said in an interview with the media.

Commenting on the statement made by Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, that Prime Minister Pashinyan is the first leader of Armenia to explicitly recognize Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, Babayan noted that the Prime Minister's declaration must first receive a legal formulation.

“Let’s say Armenia declared that it recognizes 86.6 thousand square kilometers, which is very bad, very wrong, and poorly accepted in Artsakh; it couldn't be otherwise. However, this must receive legal packaging; it is not enough to make statements and then later say, ‘You know, you didn’t understand well.’ This must have packaging, signed by the Armenian leader and confirmed by the parliament during an open vote—who is against or in favor of that historical decision. Let the people express their opinion; maybe the people have changed their DNA,” Babayan responded.

Regarding Borrell's statement that the European Union can do no more to stabilize the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh or lift the blockade than it currently does, and that they can only urge Azerbaijan to address security and rights issues, Babayan stated that this contradicts the values of democracy and human rights protection adopted by the European Union.

“Borrell, you represent Europe; where are your questions of democracy, where are your human rights? You say, ‘We asked Azerbaijan to lift the blockade,’ but it doesn’t lift it. So why do you maintain an international court? Who needs the international court? Who are you, anyway? What is your salary for, what are you doing as Europe, as a pillar of democracy? Europe has disgraced itself this way because we can no longer talk about democracy and human rights. You’re fighting for Ukraine, yet we can be killed, eliminated; it doesn’t matter because they have some goals. Here, 120,000 people will live or be slaughtered—who cares for Borrell and his ilk?” Babayan said.