Opinion
Mensoian: Artsakh’s Independence Before Normalization: Reordering Armenia’s Priorities
The following comment is attributed to President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan conjecturing on the possibility of Artsakh achieving local autonomy when it is returned to Baku's jurisdiction. "It may take a year, maybe 10 years, maybe 100 years, or it will never be possible. Time will tell." That mindset that Karabagh will revert to Azerbaijani control is given credence by the continuing pressure by the Minsk Group representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for Armen
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I agree with every word of the Mensoian’s article. It should be ‘must read’ for every Armenian parliamentary, diplomatic and military leader, from Serge Sergsian down.
In the past millennium Armenia has shrunk from 300,000 sq. kms to 30,000 kms. Most recently, Stalin sliced two provinces (Nakhichevan and Artsakh) from Armenia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we managed to take back Artsakh through guts and brains. We have given up on Nakhichevan since the Azeris emptied that province of Armenians. We shouldn’t give up Artsakh for all the reasons Mansoian’s article cites.
Karabakh and territory inside the security belt of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic should never go back to Azerbaijan…Dictator Aliev is playing a political game with Armenians…this newly crowned lifetime president of Azerbaijan, does not need lands back to his territories, those so called “occupied lands” that he always dreamt about it, is an obstacle for his strengths and marks his power over his sheikdom.
Armenia has two choices:
1) To get rid of sheikh Aliev, Armenia must recognize Artsakh as a free republic.
2) If Armenia wants to keep Aliev as president of Azerbaijan, then they must continue and play his political games, such as meetings, OSCE monitoring, Moscow seminars and … until Armenians end up a civil war over Artsakh, and finally Mr. Aliev hopes to win the war, politically, while he is in the office..
To the likes of Allyev, in Brooklyn they say “go fly a kite.” We are fools if we give credence to what he says, or doesn’t say. Artsakh is a part of Armenia. If he doesn’t like it he can either go fly a kite, or he can try to take it back. I am 82, but he’ll be facing me up front. And if he doesn’t wat5ch out, we’ll take Naxijevan also. And Ararat, and Kars and Ardahan, and Trabizond, and Adana also. Hey, Armenian Weekly, don’t be so WEAKLY, don’t be on the defensive, don’t be naive, don’t be apologetic in your articles; what would our youngsters learn from you? Talk tough, and if you can’t, then shut up!
Is Serge Sergsian the best we can do? With all the brilliant, shrewd minds we Armenians have the best we can do is a corrupt, stumbling guy like Sargisian? Please someone correct me if i’m wrong but didn’t the Azeris loose the war? Why do we need to give anything back? A third grader can conclude that a renewed war would only mean no further investments of the billions from the oil trade to Azerbajan as well. Sure, war would hurt the Armenian Nation and no one wants that but it would be political and economic suicide for them as well. Also please tell me in the 500 years of brutal turkish occupation when where they Turks ever cordial, giving, polite, honest, fair? NEVER! What makes anyone think this will change now? WE ARMENIANS, ONCE AND FOR ALL, NEED TO STICK TOGETHER, UNITED IN ONE CAUSE AND STOP PANDERING TO EVERONE ELSE INCLUDING THE AMERICANS, EUROPEANS AND RUSSIANS!
Serge Sargsyan is just as Armenian as we are and is from Artsakh. He would never give up Artsakh. Yes, he has made diplomatic mistakes, but I think he now realizes that and will change his strategy. Quit bringing the ARF into everything. The people of Armenia and Artsakh can handle themselves just fine without the ARF – they have done so for thousands of years before the ARF and did so during 70 years of Communism.
Give some of Armenia’s so-called “leaders” enough money under the table, and they’ll sell out Artsakh in a minute. The US and Russia have more than enough money to do it. Come to think of it, I wonder if, when Armenia’s leaders were negotiating with Turkey in Switzerland on a “roadmap” to set up a historical commission to determine whether a genocide occurred (and if so, which nation was the victim), they also checked on their Swiss bank accounts.
Implementing a new genocide never corrected any past genocide. The only thing more depressing than a tragic history is watching one’s own people repeat the heinous process on another people.
Let Karabakh decide for itself what it wants. The last thing this fragile process needs is a bunch if ignorant nationalists to destory what little chance there remains at peace. If I’m not mistaken, it was a group of ignorant nationalists that hijacked Ottoman policy and implemented the genocide of our people. For a while I entertained the idea that, having undergone such treachery, we Armenians might have learned from it and risen above this sort of racist ultranationalist rhetoric. Reading articles and comments like these makes me realize that we’ve become no better than the criminals who order the murder of our nation 100 years ago.