Armenian President calls on international community to stop militarization of small conflicts
President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian on November 1 participated in the meeting discussions of the Core Group of the Munich Security Conference in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
The President delivered remarks during the discussion relating to regional conflicts, stating that he wants to share his views just as a participant of the discussion and is not going to make an official statement about the situation in Armenia, the relations with Turkey, Azerbaijan, as well as the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, although the discussions are being held in Minsk, and the OSCE Group, dealing with the peaceful negotiation process for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, is called Minsk Group. “I hope one day we will achieve a peaceful settlement by the help of this Group”, the Armenian President said.
Commenting on the opinions voiced and in particular the issue of stability as mentioned by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President Armen Sarkissian said if there is no stability, one cannot predict what will happen tomorrow. One of the topics discussed related to the bipolar, unipolar and multipolar world. “This speaks about the fact that we are entering into a period where many voices, rather than one or two, will be decisive”, he said and also commented on the view of MSC chairman Wolfgang Ischinger what are the roles of small states in cooperation, partnership and competitiveness processes, whether the small states are deprived from the right to voice, or in any case they can contribute to ensuring security. “In order to answer this question, I want to state that today the world is rapidly changing”, Sarkissian said. “The world is changing so rapidly that the ongoing technological changes will drastically become one of the challenges, and we need to understand what behavior we need to show in this field. I think the predictability will be the main one here”.
According to the Armenian President, the voices of all must be heard in the new world. “In the 21st century, when we face numerous dangers and risks, the small, even frozen conflicts, can become source of major problems. They can turn into regional conflicts and even go beyond the boundaries of regions. We witness this today for instance in Donbass.
We must be careful while talking about small, frozen conflicts. They may become very dangerous. This also relates to the conflict, my country met with: the talk is about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Unfortunately, what is taking place in the region, can be characterized as a high level of tension.
I think 20 years ago we could more rely on stability. I want to call on all participants, representatives of big states to stop the militarization of small conflicts, including the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. It’s a small land, but Armenia and Azerbaijan increase their armaments as a result of this. Of course, it’s not a nuclear arsenal, but complicates the situation, as today the technologies are developing more and more, and weapons today become more dangerous.
The most important thing in our life is the time. We can buy everything, however, unfortunately, we can’t stop the time”.
Commenting on the role of time factor in the NK conflict settlement, the President said: “We know that the time is a relative concept. If it works in favor of peace, we can wait, but if it works in favor of war, it’s very short. I am deeply concerned over the militarization of the Azerbaijani side, and how much money is invested in this process. This shows that a great military potential is accumulated here. If you look at this, you will see that the time is not working in favor of peace. Is there a possibility that there will be a chain reaction, then yes. We should start not only talking, but also acting during the time of peace.
Elections will be held in Armenia soon, based on which legitimate government and parliament will be formed, there will people who will be able to sit around a negotiation table with Azerbaijan. In fact, everything depends on the will of the people”.
Calling on to listen to the people of the Republic of Artsakh, the Armenian President once again thanked the OSCE for the efforts it makes for the sake of the settlement of the conflict. “There is only one way, a peaceful way for the conflict settlement, there are no military ways”, President Sarkissian said. “If the military operations resume, all, everyone living in Artsakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia and the whole world will be affected. In other words, there is only one way, the peaceful settlement way, which can be done through the OSCE Minsk Group”.
