Zhoghovurd: Every country itself must defend its own borders, former minister insists

Below is an excerpt from the paper’s interview with Seyran Ohanyan, a former minister of defense currently representing the pre-electoral alliance Armenia:

What is your perception of [Acting Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan’s “reciprocally beneficial” proposal for the mutual withdrawal of troops from the border and the deployment of observers - representing either Russia or the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship - to later embark on the clarification of border crossing points? Can this potentially de-escalate the situation on the border, as Pashinyan promises time and again?

I can interpret it in two ways. First, each country must be able to guard and defend its borders on its own. That is why we have general headquarters at the Ministry of Defense, and a National Security Service with its border troops - coupled with the entire security sector which guarantees our defense, security, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders.

If the country is not able to protect its own borders on its own, it speaks about a loss of sovereignty. And all that, I think, is due to the anarchy prevailing here. It is an open secret that defeated authorities are under pressure all the time – both political and international, as well as geographic. With Azerbaijan advancing step by step,  they are hardly likely to ever step back once there are conditions for delimitation and demarcation. On the contrary, they will seek maximum possible territorial gains.  That’s the continuation of what Azerbaijan eyewitnessed [during the war], i.e. – that the current Armenian authorities are inadequate, illiterate and feeble. So why shouldn’t they start a war to eventually come out as winners? They are taking advantage of the fact that the same authorities are [at the helm of state] now. Plus their suspicions that Nikol will not be [in the next] government; this is why they are continuing the pressures to squeeze the circle around Armenia. So his proposal - in view of this reality - is, I think, unfeasible.

Why is it unfeasible if discussions unfold over plans to bring and deploy other forces as a counterbalance to Russia?  

I don’t find it realistic, at least in the short run... Neither do I envision any reciprocal withdrawal of troops. We may withdraw troops so that Azerbaijanis can advance, but that shouldn't normally be the case. Why should we withdraw troops after all, and why should the Azerbaijanis withdraw their own forces from the border? I don’t quite understand it. He [Pashinyan] is the one who always states that we must agree on terms beneficial for both Azerbaijan and Armenia and, in the not too distant past - also Artsakh. That [formula] now applies to the former two as a format potentially enabling us to clarify the border. But he must have the understanding that the opposite side, i.e. – Azerbaijan, does not think similarly. They are exclusively preoccupied with their own interests; they do not care about us at all and so will remain standing where they are now. We will have problems in the future in terms of pushing them back when it comes to demarcation and delimitation. I don’t know what he counts on when making statements of the kind. ”

Perhaps he is bringing people from abroad – albeit at the expense of limiting our sovereignty – in an effort to restrain Azerbaijan’s ambitions.

Every country itself protects its own borders [like] every homeowner puts up fences himself to protect his own house. If you want to stay sleeping in your house to let others come to defend your fences, it will never happen. These authorities were in a state of dormancy for six months, failing to organize our country’s defense.