Armenia faces much more serious problems than debate on present and  future - expert 

ArmInfo. Today, Armenia faces much more important problems than an invitation to the  country's former presidents to debate on the future of Artsakh. This  was written on his page by member of the Alternative Projects group  Vahe Hovhannisyan, commenting on the initiative of RA Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan to hold direct debates with the former presidents of  the Republic of Armenia.

According to the political scientist, the country's future is  currently at stake, and this is the issue that needs to be discussed.  "This debate would have made sense and made sense if it had started  in 2018, or at least before Artsakh was lost. Why didn't Pashinyan do  that? Did Nikol Pashinyan discuss or even consult with the former  presidents when he claimed the day after his election that he could  not negotiate on behalf of Artsakh, or when he declared that he was  starting negotiations from scratch, abandoning the years-long  negotiation process?

Did the Prime Minister discuss the situation with the former leaders  of the state when he was unable or unwilling to prevent the war with  possible diplomatic tools, when he rejected proposals for an early  end to military actions that entailed huge losses and human  casualties that could have been avoided, when he admitted in Prague  that Artsakh is part of Azerbaijan, when during the 9-month blockade  of Artsakh he was unable or unwilling to find the solutions that were  then? There is one answer to all these questions: no. At none of  these stages did he consult or discuss, he made unilateral  decisions," Vahe Hovhannisyan noted. He suggested that these  decisions were influenced by members of a small group known to him,  who are still in the same government with Pashinyan.

"These unilateral decisions have led to a historical catastrophe. If  you did not do it at the right moments, what is there to argue about  now? And the last, most important question. Why did Nikol start the  debate topic? Considering our previous bitter experience, we can  assume that he is preparing to lead Armenia to a new big test in the  near future. This could be either new major concessions to Aliyev, or  a new stage of escalation of relations with Russia, which will lead  to serious problems in the security and economic spheres. We do not  know his next plans. One thing is clear: at this stage of his rule,  he is going to turn Armenia into a chaotic environment, where all  sick thoughts and false debates can become possible, distracting from  important and real tasks. For the sake of this chaos, he can even  sacrifice many members of his political team. And for this very  reason, we have more important work than "debates" about the present  and the past. Our actions and our steps must be aimed at the real  future," the political scientist concluded.

Earlier, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that since 1994,  all negotiations between Yerevan and Baku have been conducted around  the conditions for leaving Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. He  challenged three presidents to debates on this topic, who, however,  rejected the idea. "I am ready to substantiate what I said in a live  debate format with the former presidents of Armenia. It is good that  they responded to my post about the negotiation process on  Nagorno-Karabakh through their representatives, but I do not hide  behind representatives. I think it would be right for them not to  hide either. I am waiting for the reaction of the presidents who  challenged my post today," Pashinyan wrote.