Kocharyan: Neither Russia, nor the US, nor France have serious  leverage on Azerbaijan and Turkey as of today

ArmInfo. Armenia is in a deep security crisis, with the authorities unable to protect the  country's territorial integrity. Second President of Armenia Robert  Kocharian announced this on September 28 during a press conference in  Yerevan.

"The recent processes also showed that the Armenian authorities  cannot involve our partners in fulfilling the obligations stipulated  by the agreements. The authorities, obsessed with the utopian thesis  of opening an "era of peace", ignored many security issues that exist  within the framework of this thesis. This is a key failure of the  chosen path," the Armenian second President said.

At the same time, he stated that the role of Baku and Ankara in the  light of recent developments has grown significantly, and the levers  of influence on Azerbaijan and Turkey have decreased. "They are  extremely limited both on the part of Russia and the CSTO. And in  this situation, ignoring security issues at least within the  framework of one's own forces, I think, is criminal inaction,"  Kocharyan said.

At the same time, he expressed his conviction that the speech of the  Prime Minister of Armenia at the UN General Assembly in its content  was akin to a memorial service for the "peaceful era".

"This meant that there were no such expectations. And after that, it  is pointless to use the same vocabulary within the country. During  the memorial service, no one wishes health to the deceased. You just  need to close this page and open a new one on other foundations," the  second president of Armenia is convinced.

At the same time, he stated that the situation inside the country is  explosive, as evidenced by the spontaneous rally on September13.  According to him, on the one hand, there is an imposition of a  solution, and on the other hand, there is a threat that this decision  will explode the situation in Armenia from the inside.

"And maybe that is the factor that left the expected decision in  uncertainty. This is a natural result of the policy pursued in  Armenia after 2018, and especially after the 44-day war. Our role in  the region has seriously decreased. We ourselves brought it to such a  low level,"  Kocharyan believes, repeating once again the previously  voiced thesis that Armenia is not at the negotiating table today, but  on the table.

In this regard, he emphasized that no one likes the weak and whiners,  and no one makes friends with this category of people. " It is the  same in the international arena as well. Beggars are given something,  but not out of respect but out of pity. It is unacceptable to turn  the country into a beggar if we want respect for our statehood," he  said.

Speaking about what needs to be done, he voiced three sets of  actions. "First, this is definitely social consolidation. Without  this, nothing will work out. Consolidation is not abstract and  happens in the name of achieving high goals. Now the following  thoughts are being voiced - let's unite to make difficult decisions.   You know, unity is for achieving victories, there is no need for  unity to surrender, for it, deconsolidation is needed," the  politician said, finding it difficult to say whether these concepts  are being replaced intentionally or not in Armenia. At the same time,  he added that surrender leads to degradation, causes a feeling of  powerlessness.

According to him, the thesis of uniting around the authorities is  also being voiced. " In order to solve the problem, first of all, it  is diagnosed in order to find ways to fix it. Now they tell us, let's  unite around the problem. But what is our goal now - to save Armenia  or save the problem of Armenia? This is the core that remains of  these proposals," he said, noting that in medicine if they see a  tumor, then it is eliminated - and this is the absolute truth.

According to him, in the context of the consolidation of efforts, the  change of the current authorities is an imperative requirement. "The  change of power in a parliamentary country can be complete or  partial. If, for example, the parliament changes the prime minister,  then this is a partial change, since power remains in the hands of  the ruling power and this may be a topic for upcoming discussions in  the political field. One thing is obvious, we cannot heal in the  environment that caused the disease, it needs to be changed," he  said.

According to Kocharyan, the second set of actions is the reform of  the army. In this regard, he drew attention to the fact that for two  years the Armenian authorities were talking about reforms, and then  the idea was born - to have the opportunity to be released from  military service for 24 million drams (58.5 thousand dollars), which  became destructive for the RA Armed Forces.

According to him, he has theses on how to restore the Armenian Armed  Forces step by step. "For me, the ratio of losses in the light of  recent events is incomprehensible. We should not have such a ratio if  the soldier was protected. It is incomprehensible to me why a serious  defense line was not built in two years.  Only a few strongholds were  normally equipped for template photos, the rest are in a deplorable  state. They say (Armenian authorities - ed. note) there is money, why  was the line of defense not equipped? This would be a deterrent for  the enemy, reducing losses," Kocharyan said, adding that Armenia's  losses testify to the deplorable state of the defense line.

According to him, the authorities say that there is money, why attack  drones were not purchased in two years. In this vein, he urged not to  believe the assurances that it is impossible to purchase weapons. "We  acquired weapons from Russia, and from Europe, and from China, and  from others. This is not a problem.  You know, Azerbaijan started the  war not because it became stronger, but because it knew that we were  weakened. This was the main the cause of the outbreak of war," he  said.   According to Kocharyan, the last, third important step should be a  reassessment of Armenia's security architecture. According to him, it  is necessary to soberly assess which states can influence Turkey and  Azerbaijan. "And it should be taken into account that the levers of  influence of Russia and the CSTO have been seriously reduced. The  CSTO has no instruments of influence at all," Kocharyan repeated,  recalling that all the CSTO countries have more friendly relations  with Azerbaijan than with Armenia.

"Obviously, Russia is doing everything possible and will do  everything possible so that there are no clashes between Armenia and  Azerbaijan. But, these will be diplomatic and political steps. Today,  when Russia has allied relations with Azerbaijan, to think that it  will start military actions against Baku are simply absurd, this will  not happen," Kocharyan added, stating that fertile ground has been  created for inciting anti- Russian sentiments in Armenia.

From this point of view, he continued, the remote control of  anti-Russian sentiments in Armenia is in the hands of Aliyev, a  couple of shots and a new wave is ready.

According to him, this is also connected with the Russia-Ukraine war.  Kocharyan believes that neither Russia, nor the United States, nor  France have serious leverage on Azerbaijan and Turkey. "Nobody can  influence Turkey at all. It can be stated that Recep Tayyip Erdogan  is giving a master class on protecting national interests today.  Ignoring all types of pressure, he does what he considers right to  protect the national interests of his country," the former president  said.