MP Safaryan says Armenia must free itself from unfound fears

During his speech at the fifth session of the RA National Assembly, Heritage Party MP Stepan Safaryan stated that ever since the draft bill for Armenia’s recognition of the RMK was first introduced in 20007, it has served as a litmus test to reveal Armenia’s tragic political stance regarding the country’s internal situation and the Artsakh issue.

MP Safaryan noted that, alongside the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, the draft bill revealed that all the talk about national unity and consensus regarding pan-national affairs was pure rhetoric and fantasy. The Heritage MP said that the ruling government and other opposition forces continue to argue that while they continue to seek international recognition of the RMK, Armenia’s recognition, on its own, would not advance this aim, that such a step would lead to a failure of the negotiations process, and that it would give cause to Azerbaijan to resume military operations. MP Safaryan stated that he did not agree with any of these arguments, other than the one predicting sanctions imposed against Armenia for taking such a step. Continuing, he said that these worn out arguments have been used by Armenia’s past two presidents as well, who also promised to work towards the international recognition of Artsakh. MP Safaryan pointed out that the reality has been the exact opposite and that the RMK has been removed from participating in direct negotiations. He said that these unfounded fears have come to replace the aim of recognition and that during the process the recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, rather than RMK recognition, has taken center stage. MP Safaryan argued that had Armenia and Artsakh taken such timid steps in the early 1990’s, they wouldn’t have emerged victorious in such a one-sided war. "If you believe that Artsakh should celebrate its 20 anniversary even without being recognized by Armenia, then it means that we haven’t matured enough to recognize it," Safaryan concluded.