Vardan Oskanyan: In the past 5 years, nothing has done us as much harm as the wrong wording used by the head of the country

Former Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan referred to his latest statement on the opportunity of a breakthrough in the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan during his live broadcast on Facebook.

“The changes that I propose to make are quite acceptable to the international community, the mediators and to our enemy. The narrative of negotiations must be reconstructed. Instead of claiming that we must conclude a peace treaty at all costs, at this stage we must find a way that will allow both nations to establish just and lasting peace,” Oskanyan said.

As the former official stated, the second key point of his proposal was that the fact that Artsakh had a status of an autonomous region (oblast) during the Soviet period must be added to the agenda. Former foreign minister is convinced that this will change the course of negotiations.

“It is rather unlikely that any serious resistance will be mounted in this regard, as no counterargument can be presented. It was Azerbaijan that put issues related to the Soviet period on the agenda. Azerbaijan raises the issue of enclaves and that of the maps, showing those enclaves and the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh,” he stated.

Oskanyan noted  that Pashnyan is far from diplomacy and still does not know the value of words in diplomacy.

“Wrong wording can cause war. Correct wording can bring peace. In the past five years, nothing has done us as much harm as the wrong wording used by the head of the country. He speaks without giving thought to what he says. He says what comes to his mind at that very moment. In many cases, his words are not aimed at the enemy or the international community, but at the domestic audience,” Vardan Oskanyan said.