Our daily life begins with defense and ends with defense. Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan said this during a conversation with Bedros Ghazaryan on the Public Television Company. “Every day our level of combat readiness changes, every day we become stronger, every day our armaments are replenished,” he said.
Referring to foreign policy, Arayik Harutyunyan said that the “Corona” virus seems to have suspended active political processes in the world.
“There is a difference of positions here; many give assessments that it has failed. When negotiations begin, they say we are selling out; when there are no negotiations, they say it is wrong. I understand the stance of our opposition figures. Our position is becoming clearer and firmer, and this is unequivocally right.
Recently, when I declared that security is more important, various interpretations were voiced. I do not subordinate the international recognition of self-determined Artsakh, but if we do not have an adequate security system, we will lose all of that,” he said.
As for the Madrid Principles, the Artsakh President said that the Madrid Principles are unacceptable, that is unequivocal and there cannot be two opinions. “There may be progress, no one denies that, but that progress does not satisfy our demands; it may have a positive impact on political processes, but it is unequivocally rejected not only by me but also by the people. In Artsakh I have not met a single person who is familiar to some extent with those principles and says that they are acceptable,” he said.
He noted that he does not believe there will be war in the coming days, but if something like that happens, then our response will be very harsh. “Countries that fear war lose everything,” he said. According to him, the Armenian nation rejects the Madrid Principles because they are a unilateral concession.
Referring to the statement of the second President of the Republic of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, that Artsakh is subordinate to Yerevan, Arayik Harutyunyan said that he is aware of the previous attitude of the Armenian authorities toward the Artsakh authorities and asked not to refer to today’s cooperation with the Armenian authorities.
“First, I dream of being subordinate to the leader of the Republic of Armenia; that is the dream of all of us, that Artsakh be part of Armenia, but there is a long road to achieve that, yet no one should question the partnership relations. We have very dignified relations, and our relations contribute to the development of the security system of Artsakh and Armenia,” he said.
