Monday, October 19 2020 10:02

ArmInfo.Russia is already doing a lot, because all these years it has been a part of the OSCE Minsk Group, one of the co-chairs, and an active co-chair at that.  The fact that for 26 years more or less there was no big war is a  merit of the Russian Federation too.

For 26 years, people have peacefully built their lives and dreamed that everything would be resolved through negotiations, that the day would come when the  parties would agree on the final status of Karabakh and the process  of normalizing relations between the two parties would begin. Because  negotiations are not just a process aimed at finding some common  solution. The process itself is very important: it is the path to  building trust. Armenian President Armen Sarkisian stated this in an  interview with Kommersant.  In his words, when searching for a  solution to the Karabakh problem, there is no real alternative to  peace negotiations. Even if Azerbaijan manages to win some part of  the war or seize territories, the war will not end there anyway. The  war of minds, the war of stories, the war of human emotions will  continue. In Armenia, people will think that this is yet another  genocide. So there is only one way, when all parties agree on how to  live on.

The RA President did not agree with the opinion on the need to reform  the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. According to him, this is one of  the highest formats: the OSCE and the co-chairs - Russia, the United  States and Europe, represented by France. In addition, the Minsk  Group, according to Armen Sargsyan, has done a lot. <There are  hundreds of small to medium sized problems. So, during all these  years, the participants in the Minsk process have been working to  build trust between the parties, which I am talking about. And there  were steps that showed that trust was growing. For example, trips  were organized: intellectuals and journalists from Armenia came to  Baku and vice versa, the same intellectuals and journalists from  Azerbaijan came to Armenia, and then they all went to Karabakh  together.  That is, by September 27, agreements were reached on many  issues. There are still a few fundamental big questions that are  always part of a political compromise. So to say that the Minsk  process did nothing is a big mistake, " - emphasized the RA  President. He added that Turkey cannot be a mediator, since it openly  supports Azerbaijan. Moreover, he does it very rudely and, in  principle, is already a party to the conflict. "We must negotiate  with Turkey as a party to the conflict, not as a mediator. The  Turkish military and their equipment are involved in these operations  of the Azerbaijani army," the president said, adding that Turkish  drones work in the mountains every day, Turkish military aircraft fly  everyday. In this situation, it is not clear how the Turks can be  intermediaries." When we talk about the current war, we should not  forget that it is different from the first one. The intensity of  hostilities is much higher, and the very nature of the conflict has  changed. Military actions began on September 27 under the pretext of  resolving the Karabakh problem by military means. But in reality, if  you look at the goals of the Azerbaijani-Turkish side, then obviously  it is not only about Karabakh. Turkey allegedly came to help  "fraternal Azerbaijan": here you guys cannot solve the Karabakh  problem on your own, let us show you how to solve it. We hear various  artificial pretexts - about the "fraternal republic", about Kurdish  militants allegedly fighting on the Armenian side: There cannot be a  single militant in Armenia.  They also talk about the need to "ensure  the safety of energy routes." But this is absolute nonsense, because  if the Armenians wanted to attack energy routes such as oil or gas  pipelines, they could have done so 20 years ago. But not a single  shot was fired. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, pumped gas and oil  from the Caspian Sea, earned billions and spent these billions on the  purchase of weapons. And now he uses this weapon to kill Armenians.  There is no need to pretend that, they say, "we are here to protect  the Azerbaijanis," said Armen Sargsyan, adding that Turkey is here  because it wants to manage oil and gas pipelines.  "And this will  change the entire regional geopolitics. Turkey will become a neighbor  of Russia, with which it will, in fact, have a land border. Turkey  will manage the oil and gas pipelines that run to Europe. This means  that Turkey will have a huge influence on the energy Europe's  security. It will also have a huge impact on Central Asia and the  Caspian region, because part of the gas and oil comes from there.  That is, it will stand in the middle and will decide: I want to let  your oil through, I want it not. Or say to the Europeans: < If you  behave well, I will make sure that these gas and oil come to you.  "That is, Turkey will manage the gas and oil that it does not own. It  used to be a consumer, and now it will be a manager.  Plus it is also  part of the broader regional policy of modern Turkey. If you are  interested, I can talk about this too. Look at Turkey. Aside from  what they say about "ethnic brothers": They are now destroying the  status quo everywhere and creating hotbeds of instability. They were  involved in a conflict in Egypt with the "Muslim brothers". They are  now in Libya. Where is Turkey and where is Libya, are there their  "ethnic brothers"? The Turks are there, because again there are at  least two points - control over rich energy resources and control  over the gateway of migration from Africa to Europe. Turkey keeps  Europe under economic and humanitarian focus. A large number of  migrants now live there, and this is such a signal:  here, comrades  in Europe, you are talking about humanitarian values, and we will  send several million migrants in your direction. The Turks also want  to control energy flows from the Caspian and North Africa.  That is,  it is a big game, "the RA President stated.  He also pointed out the  inadmissibility of the use of weapons and technologies of NATO  countries in third countries. "We need to get clarification, whether  the leadership of the alliance of Turkey gave the green light to do  what it is doing now. It's not only about the F-16. The main Turkish  drone" Bayraktar "every day is intensively used not only at the  front, but also against civilians. This is a NATO product - its  individual elements were created in different NATO countries, "the  Armenian President recalled.