We [(Armenia)] were not recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)] because, at least during my presidency, it would have meant the beginning of a war. But in fact we were doing everything to build an asymmetric confederation with Nagorno-Karabakh. Second President Robert Kocharyan, the leader of the "Armenia" bloc that will run in the snap parliamentary elections on June 20, said this during Monday’s meeting in Meghri town.
"We were integrating everything. Karabakh had its parliament and state structures. But everything was united. It meant that we were building a country. There were some issues about which we were always manifesting carefulness not to provoke a war. And I am confident that if these people [i.e., the incumbent Armenian authorities] had not come to power, we could have been holding negotiations for another 30 years," Kocharyan added.
He stated that Azerbaijan rejected the idea of returning the former NKAO, realizing that the Armenians will not give the "corridor." But they hoped that one day they would be able to return the territories. "The right negotiations were so that they would not lose hope because then there would not have been any other way but war. What did the [current Armenian] authorities do? They made the negotiations reach a deadlock. They were saying one thing, tomorrow—another. They were lying to everyone. They created a situation that neither Azerbaijan nor the mediators understood what they wanted. Then they announced that ‘Karabakh is Armenia—period!’ Then they said that they were not interested in the negotiations, they had decided everything, they were only interested in security; moreover, the [serving] president of Karabakh also was saying that; populist statements. They started talking about big projects, roads, and housing in the south.
They did the [Artsakh presidential] inauguration in Shushi [town]; this is as sensitive a topic for them as it is for us. It was as if they were constantly heating. They were saying, ‘Do not hope that you will achieve anything through negotiations.’ You can behave like that if you do not have a population of 3 million, but 50 million, whereas your opponent—3 to 4 million; in the current situation it was stupidity. They were putting pressure on their national dignity. They did everything to make war inevitable, and they did everything to lose the war," Kocharyan said.
