Azerbaijan Will Never Take Steps That Benefit the People of Artsakh: Babayan

For years, we have stated that Azerbaijan will never take steps that benefit the people of Artsakh, and we should not expect anything. This was stated by David Babayan, advisor to the President of the Republic of Artsakh, in an interview with Tert.am, responding to a statement from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejecting Armenia's demand to provide special security guarantees for about 120,000 ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh before the new phase of peace negotiations.

“It is a paradox, but the one responsible for what is happening to us is ourselves; we should not look for anyone from the outside. For years, we have said, what should Bayramov talk about? We talked about this decades ago, but it has not been considered. Now Azerbaijan openly says that it will not secure the safety of the Armenians of Artsakh because they do not want Armenians to remain in Artsakh. They want a handful of Armenians to stay in Artsakh as if in a 'zoo,' to show the world that they have a 'menagerie' and that they are feeding us and not killing us. This is what Azerbaijan wants. Do they not understand this?” Babayan expressed his outrage.

To overcome the difficult situation created in Artsakh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has proposed two steps: the implementation of the International Court's decision to open the Lachin corridor, which Azerbaijan has refused to fulfill since February, and the activation of an international mechanism for dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert, on which Armenia and Azerbaijan have failed to reach an agreement.

The representative of Artsakh noted that Azerbaijan is attempting to view the possible dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert as an internal political matter for Azerbaijan. “What should we negotiate about, capitulation? Becoming Azerbaijanis? We do not want such negotiations. Therefore, whoever is trying to push us into that dialogue is attempting to eliminate Artsakh. There has never been a situation in history where a people voluntarily gives up a part of its population or its historical territory. Do you think Azerbaijan will be satisfied with just the destruction of Artsakh? Will they not want Zangezur or Yerevan? Of course, they will,” Babayan continued.

Bayramov also stated that ethnic Armenians can use their language and be educated, maintain their culture if, like other ethnic and religious minorities, they integrate into Azerbaijani society and state structures. Artsakh's special representative raised the question of how the Armenians of Artsakh will preserve their culture within Azerbaijan when Azerbaijanis are turning Armenian churches into mosques in Berdzor. Babayan believes that Baku will do everything to force them to integrate, and attempts are already being made to completely block Artsakh so that the residents suffer from hunger. However, the official Stepanakert reiterates that there will be no integration.

“This will not be integration; it will be the extermination of Artsakh. There will be no integration with Azerbaijan, but the Armenian people can disintegrate, meaning dissolve, if Artsakh is sold,” he stated. According to David Babayan, the situation in which Artsakh currently finds itself is a test of the moral-psychological DNA of the Armenian people.