We should go to escalation, but with careful planning and reasonable steps: Political scientist on statement of Artsakh president

Yesterday, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan announced
the necessity to take extreme measures. He also announced his decision to join
the sit-in staged in Stepanakert’s Revival Square. Turning to the international
community, Harutyunyan noted that they will take drastic measures unless the
international community meets the demands of the people of Artsakh within a
week.

In his meeting with ABC Media, political scientist,
Coordinator of “Alternative Projects” group Vahe Hovhannisyan noted that it is
hard to imagine what these “drastic measures” mean.

“I think that Arayik Harutyunyan’s statements and
protest actions in Artsakh are not the result of a happy life and are somewhat
desperate measures. The situation in Artsakh is rather obscure. And this is
partly our own fault. We cannot lay the blame for everything at the door of the
world and mediators, considering their indifference,” the expert noted.

According to Hovhannisyan, we made mistakes well before the
blockade and during the 220 days of the blockade.

“Now we are placed in a situation where there seems to
be no way out on the horizon. This is our new reality, and the people in
Artsakh are facing it, unlike those living in Armenia or elsewhere. They
experience firsthand what it means to have no food to feed children, to have no
medicine for patients, to be constant targets of Azerbaijani tanks. Our
compatriots in Artsakh experience this critical situation firsthand,” he
noted.

As Hovhannisyan put it, this is not a suitable time to
discuss who did something or failed to do that.

“We are all in a grave situation and take drastic
actions. I believe that there are solutions and ways out of this situation. I
agree that we should go to escalation. But this must be done with careful
planning and reasonable steps. Otherwise, this situation will lead to tragedy.
However, if we take reasonable steps toward victory and not toward surrender,
we will achieve results.We should consider our resources and infrastructure for
struggle, as on the one hand there are the RA authorities doing nothing, on the
other hand, there are the people living in Artsakh, who have been in blockade
for 220 days. On top of this, the political opposition is dissolved in Armenia,
and there are tens of thousands of Armenians, who suffer from this situation
every day but don’t know what to do,” Vahe Hovannisyan noted.