“Today I own a house in Karavatchar, in the liberated territories. There I have a library of over two thousand Armenological books. I have friends who are buried there and I have a family. Let me say to anyone who is contemplating any type of concessions that I will never surrender my home, my mountains and my monasteries, which number in the hundreds and are omnipresent. I will not surrender the holy sites of our nation and will not depart the lands that I now consider to be my home. Anyone even entertaining such notions should ‘forget it’”, declared Aleksander Kananyan who moved to the Karavatchar region in Karabakh in 2001.

Mr. Kananyan has never belonged to any organization but news circulating regarding an impending settlement of the Karabakh question based on the ‘Madrid Principles’ and the concomitant silence of political officials has compelled him to found the “Miatsum” (Unification) Initiative along with others who share his views. Members of the newly-created organization include Jirayr Sefilyan, who commanded a special military unit in Shushi, musical conductor Tigran Khzmalyan, National Assembly Deputy Zaruhi Postanjyan, public affairs commentator Hrant Ter-Aprahamyan, Seda Melikyan, Alek Yenikomoushyan and Grizelda Ghazaryan. 

“Miatsum” is proposing a new variant regarding the settlement of the Karabakh question – uniting Karabakh with Armenia given that unification contradicts the political line that has been maintained since 1991; namely that Karabakh is a separate republic.

According to Mr. Sefilyan, during the conflict settlement process the tactical line to be followed is that Karabakh must be presented as one of Armenia’s Marzes (administrative regions), given that, “Karabakh is historical Armenian territory, the Armenian Army is stationed in Karabakh and Karabakh’s President, Bako Sahakyan, was never elected but rather selected by Yerevan.”

Given that Artsakh has become an established reality, Zaruhi Postanjyan believes that this reality must be assigned a legal guise, something that will also become a unification issue. Questions of the new format are based on one overriding principle that joins all; a comprehension of the concept of Armenia’s territorial totality.

According to Mr. A. Kananyan, as a result of surrendering any lands to Azerbaijan, not only is Armenia’s territorial undermined but also Armenia’s security since “all the liberated territories taken together form the minimum required to safeguard our nation’s regional economic vitality on the eastern front. Today, a large portion of Armenia’s wheat is grown on those territories. Thus, a retreat from even a few kilometers from one region of the liberated territories will bring about the collapse of our military-political apparatus. This event will in turn serve as a basis for the resumption of military operations by Azerbaijan.

Alek Yenikomoushyan added, “What protects us today is the spiritual victory of 1994. Our nations will spiritually die if the territories are surrendered.” Given all this, according to those who initiated the organization, the concept of unification is the most viable and the independence of Karabakh must be viewed as an interim state of affairs leading to this objective.

Jirayr Sefilyan, despite being a member of the Armenian National Congress, opposes the mutual concessions route held by Levon Ter-Petrosyan and believes that the liberated territories are not for sale. The policies implemented by the current regime, according to members of “Miatsum”, totally contradict the interests of the Armenian people and the negative manifestations of that political line are evident. Mr. Kananyan confirms that steps to resettle and retain the liberated territories are not being implemented. “The appalling truth is that this is the first year since 1994 when, on this internal piece of land that stretches from the banks of the Arax River in the south to the Mrav mountain range in the north, not a single house has been built; something that is very disquieting.”

According to Mr. Kananyan, as proof of the concessionist intentions of the ruling regime one can cite the example of the opening of the Meghri-Kapan roadway. “If there was no question of surrendering those territories the same road from Meghri could have been taken on till Mijnavan and from there, via Kubatli, to the entrance of Kapan. This way, the road all the way till Khntzoresk would have traveled through level pasturelands and much more convenient for automobile travel.” 

To the above-mentioned facts Tigran Khzmalyan adds that in 2003 the population of Lachin and Karavatchar reached 12,000 but that today it has dropped to around 5,000. This raises the perplexing question – Who is responsible?