Political scientist: Armenian  society remains indifferent to release  of historical documents on  Karabakh conflict settlement

ArmInfo.  Armenian society remained indifferent to the fact of  the publication of historical  documents on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which  clearly emphasized Armenia's retention of Artsakh. Vahe Hovhannisyan,  political scientist and co-founder of the Alternative Projects Group,  wrote on his Facebook page in connection with the Armenian  government's publication of a nearly complete package of documents  regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement negotiation  process.

He noted that the publication of important documents is usually done  to present them to the public.  Hovhannisyan pointed out that the  Armenian public has essentially remained silent on this event.

"However, the disclosure of any important, pivotal, historical  document, in the absence of such an arbiter as society, takes on a  distorted meaning," Hovhannisyan believes.

He further noted that the published documents once again prove that  in 2019, the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) Co-Chairs offered Armenia a  conflict settlement option  guaranteeing the Armenian state of  Artsakh and excluding war, casualties, and the humiliation of  national dignity. "If the Armenian authorities had adhered to the  option they proposed in 2019 and entered the practical stage of the  negotiation process, we would have avoided war, casualties, the loss  of Artsakh, and the current situation. And if the country had a  viable society, then today's Yerevan would be back to its  pre-revolutionary period, and the people would have held the  authorities accountable," Hovhannisyan asserted. 

The political scientist regretfully noted that, despite official  confirmation of this fact, Armenian society continues to live its  daily life, remaining indifferent to this reality. "And this is  happening in a context where they are trying to convey to the  Armenian people that if the right decisions had been made in 2019,  there would have been no war with all its catastrophic consequences.  However, Armenian society is not reacting, and that's the worst  thing. Because our enemy sees this, and undoubtedly, they draw their  own conclusions from it," the political scientist noted.

Hovhannisyan emphasized that this could have been prevented if they  had worked with society continuously, and not just before elections.  To achieve this, the political scientist explained, national forces  should have formed working structures and engaged in dialogue with  their own society, which was not done. "We always talk about who will  participate in the upcoming elections, naively believing that this is  the most important thing. In reality, the most important question is  what type of citizen and society  will vote. You can't expect  anything positive from the vote of an apathetic citizen. However,  there is still time to make this society viable. All that is needed  is to do the right work," Hovhannisyan concluded.