Spokesperson of President of Republic of Artsakh on statements by Donald Tusk

On July 9, President of the European Council Donald Tusk had a meeting with Ilham Aliyev in Baku and issued a statement in which he stated that the European Union supports Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

Tusk also stated that in Baku he had discussed the Artsakh conflict and, according to him, there is no military solution, but only a political settlement in accordance with international law and principles. “The EU continues to fully support the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and their focus on a fair and lasting settlement based on the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act.

We appreciate the overall decrease of tensions but like the co-chairs, we have been concerned by the recent casualties along the Line of Contact. Restraint is important and so are measures to restore an atmosphere conducive to peace and favourable to productive talks. The EU is already supporting peace-building activities and is ready to assist concrete measures to prepare the populations for peace,” Tusk declared.

After his visit to Azerbaijan, the President of the European Council also visited Armenia today. During his joint press conference with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in government, Tusk reaffirmed that there is no military solution for the Artsakh issue. “All sides should take measures to restore the atmosphere conducive to peace. The conflict does not have a military solution and needs a political settlement in accordance with international law and principles. The EU is already supporting peace-building activities and is ready to further support measures to prepare the populations for peace,” he stated.

168.am talked to Davit Babayan, Spokesperson of President of the Republic of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan, about Donald Tusk’ visit to the region and his statements on the Artsakh issue.

168.am: Mr. Babayan, during his visit to Baku, President of the European Council Donald Tusk declared that the EU supports Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. How would you assess this statement which is, in essence, the position of the European Union?

Davit Babayan: This statement also needs to be observed along with the statement he made in Yerevan. As far as I know, in Yerevan, he didn’t talk about the right of nations to self-determination and principles. Consequently, this means either Mr. Tusk didn’t want to make the situation more complicated in order to not frustrate Azerbaijan, or there are problems here. We need to give a rather coarse response since we value our relations with Europe. We truly view Europe and the European territory as a friend to us, as a territory that is one of the cradles of civilization and democracy, and we don’t want our relations to deteriorate. On the contrary, we want to maintain good and normal relations. For this reason, no matter how grave and strict it may be, we need to say that this is a wrong approach. For instance, the European Union maintains so-called good and fraternal ties with Fascist Azerbaijan, goes to Baku, they praise each other, fail to address the massive human rights violations in Azerbaijan, the repressions against national minorities and turning different types of nationalists into heroes. They hold all-European games in Baku and make statements that make it seem like Azerbaijan is at the level of France or Denmark in terms of development.

What does this mean? This is not so much a challenge to us as it is to Europe. Once and for all, Europe needs to decide if it supports the values that it makes toasts about (democracy, human rights, etc.) or interests or caviar. After all, what matters to them? We need to be strict because we value the relations with Europe, and we need to speak out about the wrong steps and say that it is wrong. What does it mean to praise Azerbaijan? Is international law only about territorial integrity? What about human rights and the right of nations to self-determination? How did Europe recognize Kosovo? The European Union has thousands of decisions on all this. How is it so? Does this mean discrimination? This is why Europe needs to decide because this is also very dangerous for Europe. Europe declares one thing and does something else. We see what kind of a situation this is creating in Europe. This is the consequence of such a policy. We obviously need to point this out with kind wishes, realizing that Europe is a region that is like a relative to us, and everything needs to be clear between relatives. If there has to be a strict conversation, then there has to be a strict conversation. At the same time, we need to continue to enhance our relations with Europe, keeping in mind that national interest is a priority for all countries. Consequently, Tusk’s statements need to be an alarm for us Armenians to always rely on ourselves, lead the right policy in the world, further deepen and enhance relations with fraternal Russia, as well as with Iran and the USA, and never be guided by “values” that even the countries that have to maintain them, don’t.

168.am: Do the authorities of the Republic of Armenia need to raise your concerns during official meetings with Donald Tusk or not?

Davit Babayan: The problem is that there are so-called public and non-public channels. Since Artsakh is a pioneer in the fight for human rights protection, we reserve ourselves the right to speak out about this issue because even very few European countries have led the struggle that we have led for the right of nations to self-determination and human rights protection. We have earned the right to speak out about these issues. Our struggle hasn’t been weaker than the struggle that the most developed European and democratic countries have led, and we have suffered many casualties along the way. We need to speak out and say that we are fighting for these values, and if they make statements on these values, they should be kind enough to respect our struggle.

“If anyone has illusions that the Armenian side will take unilateral steps, that person is dead wrong”

168.am: Unlike his statement in Baku, in Yerevan, Tusk declared that the European Union is willing to prepare the populations for peace. Why didn’t he make such a statement about peace in Baku?

Davit Babayan: If Tusk said the populations need to be prepared for peace, he had to add that Safarov has to be in prison in order to prepare the populations for peace. How can there be peace when an executioner is declared a hero? Tusk says we need to respect Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. What does this mean? Thank you for the kind wishes, we are preparing for peace, and for that, our army needs to have the highest level of efficiency — this is the key to peace. I am thankful for his kind wishes, and to make sure all this is substantive, I repeat — Artsakh has earned the right to speak out about this. We have fought for human rights and democracy more and suffered more casualties than many countries. Therefore, we say the following: if you want peace, we want peace as well, but for that, go and talk to the nationalists and help them become constructive. If anyone has illusions that the Armenian side will take unilateral steps and will be submissive to executioners, that person is dead wrong.

Zvart Khachatryan