Armenia has won Karabakh war but lost struggle for peace, leader of the Heritage party Raffi Hovannisian told the participants of the 6th special congress of the party.
According to him, Armenia should manage to prevent war but be ready for it. Armenia also should recognize Nagorno-Karabakh within its constitutional borders. Yerevan must demand that Azerbaijan should end the occupation of the Armenian territories and take the consequences of the destruction of the Armenian heritage in Jugha, he noted. Armenia should do everything for Azerbaijan and Karabakh to be two recognized states, whereas country’s foreign policy to be based on the state interests. “Only in this case, we will provide regional peace,” Hovannisian added. Presently, our country’s territorial integrity is at stake and we should not allow anyone to speak of preconditions, regardless of what hat he is wearing, the Heritage leader emphasized.
As to the Armenian-Turkish relation, Hovannisian deems that this profound issue should be settled fairly. Otherwise, all the efforts, including the process initiated by the Armenian authorities and giving rise to Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression and occupation policy aimed at gaining Karabakh, are futile. The Heritage leader considers that Turkey tries to urge Armenia to accept its preconditions.
Raffi Hovannisian touched upon the problems of Javakhk Armenians. According to him, Javakhk should find a form of national identity based on the self-administration principle of its people. It should be recognized both by Armenia and Georgia, he said, adding that the arrested Armenian activists of Javakhk must be released.
