Mamijanyan: Diplomacy carried out by current leaders of Armenia can  be characterized by "Bazaar diplomacy" term

ArmInfo. The diplomacy carried out by the current leaders of Armenia can be characterized by the "Bazaar diplomacy" term. MP from the opposition faction "I have the Honor" Hayk Mamijanyan stated on April 21 during a press conference, presenting his attitude to the government's report on activities for 2022.

In this regard, he stated with regret that in exchange for maintaining his own power, the state and national interests of the Armenian state were put up for auction.

The oppositionist drew attention to the fact that in 2022 Russia signed a Declaration of Alliance with Azerbaijan, and Armenia did not react to this fact in any way. "The Armenian Ambassador to Russia was not dismissed for fruitless work. During the reporting period, unprecedented events were recorded in the Armenian-Russian relations: Russia sent an official note of protest to Armenia. The reason for the note was the statement of a certain marginal public and political figure, whose weight was disproportionate to the reaction RF. Hence the conclusion that this statement was only a pretext for a note from a strategic ally," he said, noting that this individual case actually characterizes the general picture of relations between the two countries.

At the same time, Mamijanyan noted that due to "Bazaar diplomacy" and the lack of a clear vector for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the authorities could not keep on the agenda of the negotiations the proposal made by Russia on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, and in the future the possibility of exercising the right of the NKR to self-determination.

"Due to the simultaneous approval of at least two mutually negative proposals, there is no question of the status of Artsakh on the agenda of negotiations today," he said.

Moreover, according to the oppositionist, in the government's report on activities for 2022, in the description of relations between Armenia and the United States, there is no mention of section 907.  According to him, from this we can conclude that the Armenian leaders are not making any efforts to stop the military assistance provided by the United States to Azerbaijan.

Mamijanyan noted that in terms of EU-Armenia relations, it can be stated that the bilateral dialogue on visa liberalization, envisaged by the 2017 Enhanced and Comprehensive Partnership Agreement, has not started this year either. According to him, there is no any information  about 2.6 billion euros, which were trumpeted in Armenia even from "turned off irons", and in the government's report, the figures presented in the total volume do not exceed 300 million euros.

Regarding relations with China, the oppositionist noted that the document presented by the government only contains data on trade turnover, and surprisingly there is no mention of the work of the Armenian side within the framework of the One Belt, One Road project.

"There is no mention of the work on the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide in the government report for 2022. Although this issue was noted as a priority in the government's program. Let me also remind you that in the reporting year, on December 9, the International Day for the Prevention and Condemnation of Genocide, the Armenian Foreign Ministry did not issue a statement, and then itposted a message backdated, the text of which is  shameful in terms of efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide," he said.

At the same time, the MP stressed that he would not touch on the point of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions, since in fact what was stated in the report is actually a roadmap for the implementation of all Turkish-Azerbaijani preconditions.

Regarding the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, Mamijanyan noted that the government of Nikol Pashinyan by the government program for 2021, and before that by the election program, actually promised to solve the Karabakh issue according to the logic of recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. According to him, such a conclusion can be drawn from his statement of April 18 from the rostrum of the parliament. "If the fundamental principles for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict developed by the previous authorities are so bad, then why were they included in all Pashinyan's election programs? I will add that today's negotiation process on Artsakh is fundamentally different from the legacy left by the previous authorities, and in no way, does not even reflect Pashinyan's election promises," he said.

At the same time, the oppositionist stressed that the Republic of Armenia should exclude any negotiation format, where the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations are separated from the Nagorno-Karabakh process. He stressed that for Armenia, the red line should be the exclusion of Artsakh from joining Azerbaijan.

Mamijanyan also believes that Armenia should ensure that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs reaffirm their commitment to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of fundamental principles.

In conclusion, he pointed to the imperative to start negotiations between Armenia and the CSTO on providing assistance. "The arguments presented by today's authorities, who rejected the package of military assistance from the CSTO and the deployment of peacekeepers, are not commensurate with the risks that arise as a result of these actions," he said, emphasizing also the need for attempts to revive the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements of 2016 on the establishment of control mechanisms border incidents.