ArmInfo.You can't live with double standards. Artsakh Minister of State Ruben Vardanyan stated this in an interview with The American Conservative. According to him, nothing has changed since December 12, when the blockade of Artsakh began.
"We are continuing under blockade. We have shortages of food, medication, and gasoline. We continue to have separated families who cannot rejoin each other, including kids in Artsakh whose parents are in Armenia, and kids in Armenia whose parents are in Artsakh. It's quite a challenging situation. It's been 26 days, and it's really tough. There are 120,000 people in the blockade, including 30,000 children."
At the same time the Minister noted that all these processes began as a protest by Azerbaijani ecological activists, who blocked the road. "But if you follow the past 10 years of Azerbaijan's history, you will not find any other ecological protests anywhere in Azerbaijan. It's a little bit surprising, given how big the oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan is. It's curious that they suddenly now care about the environment and why they chose to hold their first protest here. From the beginning, we said, "There is no problem with sending international experts to monitor our mining business." We have high standards. The Artsakh government has placed high standards for any industry here. So we said, "No problem, let's check not only how we mine, but also the quality of mining in Azerbaijan," because we also care about how our Azeri neighbors treat the environment. But they refused. Plus, a lot of these "protesters" are special forces, military people.... Others are just students hired by the government and are paid to protest," the State Minister said.
Answering the question why there is no help from Russian peacekeepers in resolving the situation, Vardanyan said: " Well, if you follow the history of peacekeepers in any part of the world, you'll find a similar story. Because usually there's a very limited number of peacekeepers. They don't have a right to use their weapons. And they usually try to avoid conflict. And if a conflict happens, they have a limited chance to do something more active.... And it's not easy to [overcome the blockade] without some violence."
He noted that Artsakh is a rich land. It has some good meat and some grain. "So there are some basic foods, and starvation hasn't started, but not everything. We don't have vegetables. Kids aren't getting normal food, it's bad for their development. Medicines, the Red Cross is helping us to some extent, but of course we have problems that continue.... Azerbaijani "activists" do allow the Red Cross through. Now the Azeris play this game, saying, "Look, the road is open, the Red Cross is getting through." But with others, they check your passport now, asking, "Why are you going where you're going?" But the [international] agreement is that the road should be free and clear. This is unacceptable from our side."
Answering the question about how Armenia can help Artsakh, Vardanyan noted that Armenia is facing its own challenges with Azerbaijan. The Armenian government and Armenian society have limited resources.
The State Minister noted that Azerbaijan's policy towards Karabakh has been going for 35 years. "In 1988, when Armenians in Karabakh under the Soviet Union demanded independence from the Azerbaijan Soviet republic, they [the Azeris] started a war, they lost the first war. But the goal was to do an ethnic cleansing of Armenians on this whole territory, where we have been living for thousands of years. There are fantastic monasteries that attest to our presence here, villages where people have lived for tens of generations. But they want to clear this territory for Azerbaijani people. On December 25, we had a big meeting, 50,000 people gathered. It was a mutual decision: Despite all the difficulties and all the dangers for us, this is our homeland. We will die, but we will stay in our homeland. Azerbaijan faces a difficult choice: They will have to kill 120,000 people, including 30,000 kids. Azerbaijan would face a huge price for this, not only their own soldiers but the fact that the world wouldn't accept such an operation. Anyway, we have made up our minds: We are not leaving our homes."
Answering the question why it is unacceptable for the Armenians of Karabakh to live as part of Azerbaijan, the State Minister noted, "The Azerbaijani state is not a democracy. It's an autocratic state. Just ask yourself: What kinds of rights do ordinary Azerbaijani people have? They don't have any rights. There is no opposition, no real elections, no real democracy. It's one family controlling the country. So we say, "How do you want us to live as citizens of a country where violations of human rights against their own people are so routine, let alone national minorities?" So it's not about hate. It's not that we can't live together. We Armenians and Azerbaijanis had been living together like neighbors for hundreds of years. But now, we have a democracy. We've had five presidents elected in the time [since independence]. We have an opposition, we have a civil society. So they're asking us to become part of a state that is just completely different. It really isn't about religion, it isn't about nationality. It's about a way of life."
The Minister also emphasized: "If you really want to make peace and have a long-term strategy where we can live next to each other like neighbors, he [Aliyev] needs to do something differently. You can't use your power to push people around. He needs to sit down and discuss.... Thirty years ago, they lost a war. More recently, Armenians lost a war. And it can go on forever. And the power balance may change, because in the future the price of oil and gas may go down. The conflict could be forever....
The leaders of Azerbaijan need to understand: If you really want to make peace in the region, they need to come up with suggestions that would be acceptable to both sides. And the solution is very simple: They need to accept that Artsakh and its people are used to living independently, and they will not just become ordinary citizens of Azerbaijan.... They need to find a way to accept this. They need to be wise enough to recognize this, not only to overcome the current conflict, but so as not to impose the conflict on the next generation. You need to sit and talk with the people. It will take a lot of time, and a lot of will from both sides to talk to each other, to bring the hatred down to the point where we can live next to each, like it has taken place between Britain and France, between Germany and France. If we don't try, we will never find the solution."
In conclusion, Vardanyan stated: "You can't live with double standards. If you, as Americans, care about democracy, human rights, and the right of peoples to live in their own homes, this cannot just be applied unevenly, or allowed to be overwhelmed by realpolitik.... The United States being one of the strongest countries in the world, and the key provider of democracy in the world and [a lynchpin of] Western civilization, needs to understand: Armenian civilization is one of the oldest in this region and the world. We've been here and built a heritage for the world. And if they allow us to be subjected to ethnic cleansing, it will hurt not just this region, but the world, especially the Christian world. It's the first Christian civilization, and it shaped Christianity for the whole world. Americans, especially Christians, this is the sort of thing you can ignore, saying, "It's too far," it will hurt [if Armenians lose their homeland].