Artsakh’s Future after Crimea Events
Crimeans celebrate last week’s referendum for secession
BY ARMINE GEVORGYAN
YEREVAN (ArmRadio)—“Near the centennial of the First World War, the world powers are trying to restore the Russo-Turkish and Crimean Wars through different processes,” Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan told reporters on Wednesday. According to her, fatal events for small nations always take place against the background of complex geopolitical developments, as it was the case with Crimea.
Having paid several visits to Crimea, Larisa Alaverdyan has not seen anything Ukrainian there except for a few posters. “Crimea has always wanted to reunite with Russia,” she said, adding, however, that comparing Artsakh to Crimea would be incorrect.
“Since 1988 Artsakh has managed to move along the path it had chosen in the beginning. Artsakh is a rather vivid example of actions that are legal from the very beginning up until today,” Larisa Alaverdyan said.
Why didn’t Artsakh react to the independence of Kosovo, while expressed a clear position in the case of Crimea? “Artsakh could not be glad for what happened in Kosovo. As for Crimea, it is conceived as part of Russia. Therefore, Artsakh treats this as restoration of historic justice,” she added.
Ex-Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanyan says, “The situation of Armenian authorities is not enviable, as they will face open pressures from Russia, as it was with the case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”
Alexander Arzumanyan welcomes the reaction of the Karabakh authorities to the referendum in Crimea, supporting the right to self-determination and hoping for a peaceful settlement. The ex-Foreign Minister does not rule out that there might be people in Armenia or Karabakh requesting unification with Russia like Transniestria, and this is the most dangerous prospect.
“For 70 years, people in Nagorno Karabakh fought to get rid of the Azerbaijani yoke, but before that they had struggled against Russian oppression in the course of 150 years,” he said.
According to Arzumanyan, it is the duty of every force and every citizen concerned with the fate of Armenia to do its best for the sovereignty of Nagorno Karabakh to be sustained.
“If the Customs Union is a good thing, and if Russia is concerned about Armenia, let it recognize Karabakh’s independence for the latter to join the Customs Union as an independent state together with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Arzumanyan is hopeful that the Armenian authorities will be strong enough to explain to our strategic partners that it stems from Armenia’s interests to maintain relations with both Russia and Ukraine.
