Armen Sarkissian: I urge all to stop militarization of small conflicts

President Armen Sarkissian in the capital of the Republic of Belarus Minsk today participated at the discussion of the Core Group of the Munich Security Conference related to the weapon control and confidence building as well as regional conflicts.

President Armen Sarkissian spoke at the discussions related to regional conflicts and noted that would like to share his observations just as a participant of the discussions and was not intending to make a statement on the situation in Armenia, relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict even though the discussions were being held in Minsk, and the group which is mediating the peace process is call the OSCE Minsk Group. “I hope that one day with the help of that Group, we will reach a peaceful resolution,” the President of Armenia said.

Speaking about opinions and the issue of stability singled out by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President Sarkissian said that in the absence of stability it would be impossible to guess what’s coming tomorrow. One of the topics related to a unipolar, bipolar and multipolar world: “This testifies to the fact that we are entering a period of time where not one or two but many voices will be decisive,” President Sarkissian said and referred to the observation of the President of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger regarding the role of small countries in the cooperation, collaboration, and competitiveness related process: are small countries deprived of the right to speak or they can nevertheless have their input in providing security? To answer this question, I would like to note that in our times, the world is changing rapidly,” the President of Armenia said.

“The world is changing so rapidly that technological changes, which are taking place, will very soon become a challenge, and we need to understand what stance we are going to maintain in that area. I believe that predictability should be pivotal here.”

According to the President of Armenia, all voices in the new world must be heard. “In the 21st century, we encounter multiple menaces and risks; small, event frozen conflicts may become a source of big problems. They might become regional conflict and even spill over regions. We are witnessing that today, for example, in Donbass.

We need to be careful while speaking of small, frozen conflicts. They might become very dangerous. This is true also about the conflict which my country is facing: I am speaking of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Unfortunately, things are going on in the region can be defined as a high level tension.

I trust, 20 years ago, we could rely on stability much more. I would like to urge all participants, representatives of big states to stop militarization of small conflicts, including the militarization of the NK conflict. That’s a small area but because of that Armenia and Azerbaijan are amplifying weapons.

Of course, it’s not nuclear weapon but it complicates the situation because technologies today advance more and more and today weapons become more dangerous.

The most important thing in our life is time. Anything can be found but unfortunately, we cannot stop the time.”

Responding to the inquires of the participants of the meeting and referring to the factor of time in the resolution of the NK conflict, President Sarkissian said, “We know that time is relative. If it works for peace, we can wait, if it works for war, it’s very short. I am deeply concerned because I see the militarization of the Azerbaijani side and how much money is put into it. All that proves that huge military potential is being accumulated. If we pay attention, we will see that it’s not working for peace.

Is there a possibility of a chain reaction? Yes. We need not only talk but also work for peace.

Soon, there will take place elections in Armenia which will form a legitimate government and parliament, there will be people who will sit down around the negotiations table with Azerbaijan. In reality, everything depends on the will of people.

Urging to listen to the people of the Republic of Artsakh, the President once again expressed thanks to the OSCE for the efforts which the Organization is making to find a peaceful resolution. “There is only one, peaceful way to solve the conflict, a military way is not an option,” President of Armenia said. “If there is a resumption of military actions, all will suffer – people living in Artsakh, in Azerbaijan, in Armenia and the entire world. Thus, there is only one, peaceful way to solve the conflict which can be done with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group.”