You can`t live with double standards - Ruben Vardanyan

ArmInfo.You can't live with double standards. Artsakh Minister of State Ruben Vardanyan stated this in an interview with The American Conservative.  According to  him, nothing has changed since December 12, when the blockade of  Artsakh began.

"We are continuing under blockade. We have shortages of food,  medication, and gasoline. We continue to have separated families who  cannot rejoin each other, including kids in Artsakh whose parents are  in Armenia, and kids in Armenia whose parents are in Artsakh. It's  quite a challenging situation. It's been 26 days, and it's really  tough. There are 120,000 people in the blockade, including 30,000  children."

At the same time the Minister noted that all these processes began as  a protest by Azerbaijani ecological activists, who blocked the road.  "But if you follow the past 10 years of Azerbaijan's history, you  will not find any other ecological protests anywhere in Azerbaijan.  It's a little bit surprising, given how big the oil and gas industry  in Azerbaijan is. It's curious that they suddenly now care about the  environment and why they chose to hold their first protest here.   From the beginning, we said, "There is no problem with sending  international experts to monitor our mining business." We have high  standards. The Artsakh government has placed high standards for any  industry here. So we said, "No problem, let's check not only how we  mine, but also the quality of mining in Azerbaijan," because we also  care about how our Azeri neighbors treat the environment. But they  refused. Plus, a lot of these "protesters" are special forces,  military people.... Others are just students hired by the government  and are paid to protest," the State Minister said.

Answering the question why there is no help from Russian peacekeepers  in resolving the situation, Vardanyan said: " Well, if you follow the  history of peacekeepers in any part of the world, you'll find a  similar story. Because usually there's a very limited number of  peacekeepers. They don't have a right to use their weapons. And they  usually try to avoid conflict. And if a conflict happens, they have a  limited chance to do something more active.... And it's not easy to  [overcome the blockade] without some violence."

He noted that  Artsakh is a rich land. It has some good meat and some  grain. "So there are some basic foods, and starvation hasn't started,  but not everything. We don't have vegetables.  Kids aren't getting  normal food, it's bad for their development.  Medicines, the Red  Cross is helping us to some extent, but of course we have problems  that continue....  Azerbaijani "activists" do allow the Red Cross  through. Now the Azeris play this game, saying, "Look, the road is  open, the Red Cross is getting through." But with others, they check  your passport now, asking, "Why are you going where you're going?"  But the [international] agreement is that the road should be free and  clear. This is unacceptable from our side."

Answering the question about how Armenia can help Artsakh, Vardanyan  noted that Armenia is facing its own challenges with Azerbaijan. The  Armenian government and Armenian society have limited resources.

The State Minister noted that Azerbaijan's policy towards Karabakh  has been going for 35 years. "In 1988, when Armenians in Karabakh  under the Soviet Union demanded independence from the Azerbaijan  Soviet republic, they [the Azeris] started a war, they lost the first  war. But the goal was to do an ethnic cleansing of Armenians on this  whole territory, where we have been living for thousands of years.  There are fantastic monasteries that attest to our presence here,  villages where people have lived for tens of generations. But they  want to clear this territory for Azerbaijani people. On December 25,  we had a big meeting, 50,000 people gathered. It was a mutual  decision: Despite all the difficulties and all the dangers for us,  this is our homeland. We will die, but we will stay in our homeland.  Azerbaijan faces a difficult choice: They will have to kill 120,000  people, including 30,000 kids. Azerbaijan would face a huge price for  this, not only their own soldiers but the fact that the world  wouldn't accept such an operation. Anyway, we have made up our minds:  We are not leaving our homes."

Answering the question why it is unacceptable for the Armenians of  Karabakh to live as part of Azerbaijan, the State Minister noted,  "The Azerbaijani state is not a democracy. It's an autocratic state.  Just ask yourself: What kinds of rights do ordinary Azerbaijani  people have? They don't have any rights. There is no opposition, no  real elections, no real democracy. It's one family controlling the  country. So we say, "How do you want us to live as citizens of a  country where violations of human rights against their own people are  so routine, let alone national minorities?" So it's not about hate.  It's not that we can't live together. We Armenians and Azerbaijanis  had been living together like neighbors for hundreds of years. But  now, we have a democracy. We've had five presidents elected in the  time [since independence]. We have an opposition, we have a civil  society.  So they're asking us to become part of a state that is just  completely different. It really isn't about religion, it isn't about  nationality. It's about a way of life."

The Minister also emphasized: "If you really want to make peace and  have a long-term strategy where we can live next to each other like  neighbors, he [Aliyev] needs to do something differently. You can't  use your power to push people around. He needs to sit down and  discuss.... Thirty years ago, they lost a war. More recently,  Armenians lost a war. And it can go on forever. And the power balance  may change, because in the future the price of oil and gas may go  down. The conflict could be forever....

The leaders of Azerbaijan need to understand: If you really want to  make peace in the region, they need to come up with suggestions that  would be acceptable to both sides. And the solution is very simple:  They need to accept that Artsakh and its people are used to living  independently, and they will not just become ordinary citizens of  Azerbaijan.... They need to find a way to accept this. They need to  be wise enough to recognize this, not only to overcome the current  conflict, but so as not to impose the conflict on the next  generation. You need to sit and talk with the people. It will take a  lot of time, and a lot of will from both sides to talk to each other,  to bring the hatred down to the point where we can live next to each,  like it has taken place between Britain and France, between Germany  and France. If we don't try, we will never find the solution." 

In conclusion, Vardanyan stated: "You can't live with double standards.  If you, as Americans, care about democracy, human rights, and the  right of peoples to live in their own homes, this cannot just be  applied unevenly, or allowed to be overwhelmed by realpolitik.... The  United States being one of the strongest countries in the world, and  the key provider of democracy in the world and [a lynchpin of]  Western civilization, needs to understand: Armenian civilization is  one of the oldest in this region and the world. We've been here and  built a heritage for the world. And if they allow us to be subjected  to ethnic cleansing, it will hurt not just this region, but the  world, especially the Christian world. It's the first Christian  civilization, and it shaped Christianity for the whole world.  Americans, especially Christians, this is the sort of thing you can  ignore, saying, "It's too far," it will hurt [if Armenians lose their  homeland].