‘We lost this battle to ourselves, not the Turks and Azerbaijanis,’ Artsakh foreign minister says  

In an interview with Tert.am, the foreign minister of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) shared his vision of the country’s foreign policy priorities after the recent war, elaborating on the developing relations with Armenia and the Diaspora and the future scenariors for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

David Babayan stressed especially the priority focus on Artsakh’s status as an independent subject, geopolitical facctor and key role-player.

Mr. Babayan, what have become the priorities in the Artsakh Foreign Ministry’s work after the war?

There are naturally major foreign policy problems which are traditional in nature: they have existed and still exist and will remain in place also in the future. These include the international recognition of the Artsakh Republic by different countries, the development and deepening of relations with different subjects and the settlement of the Karabakh issue. Also another major task – on which also the effectiveness of our foreign policy depends - is the subjectivity of the Artsakh Republic as a geopolitical factor, and the maintenance of its role as a [main] actor. That’s an extremely serious problem not only for our foreign policy but also state-building. And we have the necessary potential for that. That’s, first of all, our geopolitical position. Even in a split situation as this, Artsakh does remain a role-player given that Trancaucasia without the Armenian Artsakh is one thing and the absence of such a formatation – totally a different matter. To be a subject, it is very important for Artsakh to be a supreme value in both the Diaspora and the Republic of Armenia and have a decisive role-playing in the socio-political life of both Armenia and the Diaspora. This doesn’t mean, of course, that Artsakh must be engaged in virtually every minutia, thereby exhausting its potential.l Artsakh’s voice must be decisive when it comes to the most vital issues. This will guarantee our status as a subject.    

Does the Armenian side’s defeat in the 2020 Artsakh war complexify, in a way, the Artsakh authorities, Armenia and the Diaspora?

Complexifying, in general, is something that has been a key concern for the Armenian people for many years. Living on our territory, i.e. - the Armenian Highlands, we have for centuries been enslaved by different invaders. It created a kind of complex in the Armenian people’s sub-consciousness and world-perception, reaching its peak after the 1915 Genocide when we lost most of our fatherland and our cultural heritage. And the preservation of the Armenian identity in the Diaspora was largely linked to the Genocide-era memories. And that too, by definition, was a specific form of complex. Armenians in Armenia were themselves suffering from the kind of complex, and our victories in the first Artsakh war and the [2016] April War allowed us, little by little, to leave aside and eventually get rid of that complex. We are now required to do all our best to prevent more complexes after what happened to us absolutely recently. What may create a complex this time is that we may, Heaven forbid, develop the kind of opinion that our national statehood is the biggest threat to our people’s existence. We must not let it happen. It is a very hard and decisive period for us; hence we must do all our best to overcome this calamity with our unanimous efforts. 

I am more than confident that we lost the battle to ourselves rather than the Turks or Azerbaijanis. This is what actually makes it both dificult and easy for us to overcome the defeatist complex.

The Diaspora has been permanently carrying out work towards the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.  It is now evident that there is a certtain disappointment with the Armenian authorities because of our defeat in the Artsakh war. How do you envision the future work with the Diaspora?

We certainly have very active dialogues with our sisters and brothers and different organizations in the Diaspora. I don’t want to unveil any details now. Little talk, much work: this is the slogan we have adopted for our foreign policy strategy. We are not going to engage in a PR campaign to advertise what we are doing and who we generally meet. That works to our disadvantage, especially now. But having contacts with the Diaspora, I can say that they are experiencing the horrible wound after what happened to us. But Artsakh, as a supreme value, has not lost its position in the Diaspora. It is a very important factor which we are obliged to preserve.

Let us talk about the Armenia-Artsakh relations in the foreign policy domain. How do you evaluate them now?

As I already said, Artsakh’s place and role is among the key factors for us in terms of raising our role and status as a subject in the Republic of Armenia. In that sense, we are certainly collaborating with the Foreign Ministry of Armenia. I very highly appreciate the current level of our collaboration with both Minister Mr. [Ara] Aivazian and employees of the Foreign Ministry and our representations to different countries. We must keep this going.