DIPLOMACY FOR FLIES

A discourse is underway whether Turkey can be a mediator of the Karabakh conflict or not. Those who think that Turkey should not prevail in number. Certainly, Serge Sargsyan stated in America that Turkey does not become a mediator but a helper, and Armenia commends any help. However, perhaps one needs a peculiar knowledge of the Armenian language to explain the difference between a mediator and a helper in settlement. They do differ, of course, but it is necessary to explain how essential that difference is. Otherwise, the joke comes to one’s mind when a buyer asks the farmer on the marketplace how much the chili pepper is. The farmer says it is not chili, it is honey. The customer asks why he has written chili. “It is for the flies,” the farmer says. Perhaps the problem is not that Turkey becomes a mediator, or a helper, but perhaps that the notions, the topic of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict change. Logically, the closer the time of resolution, the time of an agreement is, and the more the chances are, the main issue of the discourse on the settlement should be the issue of participation of Nagorno-Karabakh in the talks. If the settlement goes on normally, ostensibly the involvement of Karabakh rather than Turkey in the process should be considered. At least the society and the political sets in Armenia should be discussing what Armenia is doing to advocate the involvement of Karabakh in the talks. Judging by the statements of official Yerevan and the opinions of the mediators, publicly Armenia does nothing to create a basis for discussion and to establish a debate. Instead, surprisingly, directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, Yerevan favors the discourse on the Turkish participation. And the society and the political thought caught the lure the origin of which we will consider unknown for the time being, and is actively discussing whether Turkey should be involved in the process of settlement. This is already the retreat of the Armenian side. By saying the Armenian side we should not only mean the Armenian government but the entire society and political thought, because the retreat of the government had happened earlier, when Serge Sargsyan who had expressed his willingness for retreat as minister of defense became president. It is possible, as the ex-foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan says, that Serge Sargsyan got certain guarantees, knows something to take that step, and fosters the increase of the Turkish influence on the settlement. However, the problem is that as soon as we yield Karabakh, all the other achievements will be temporary. In this situation, official Stepanakert keeps deathly silence. Meanwhile, it seems that the capital of Karabakh should constantly send signals to Armenia and the international communities, reminding them constantly that it is a subject. However, the absence of signals, considering the recent past and the present reality in the “Karabakh province”, as a very famous political scientist would say, is quite natural because over the past few years official Stepanakert has turned into an annex to official Yerevan. JAMES HAKOBYAN

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