Azerbaijan’s position is aimed at creating a new architecture of conflict at a time when there is truly a historic opportunity to create an architecture of peace, Vice-President of the Armenian National Assembly, Armenia’s special envoy for negotiations with Turkey Ruben Rubinyan said during a panel discussion on “Geopolitics of Connectivity: From Competition to Collaboration” held within the framework of the Yerevan Dialogue International Forum.
Speaking about the Crossroads of Peace project, Rubinyan said it is based on basic principles of international law and on basic logic.
“We are ready to have unblocked communications, roads, railroads, cables and anything else based on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of parties – Armenia and Azerbaijan and all countries surrounding them, based on exercising of jurisdiction of respective parties. I think that it’s very logical that a country would have a right to exercise its jurisdiction on its territory and have its territorial integrity respected,” Ruben Rubinyan said.
“I cannot imagine anyone arguing all this, the only exception for anyone to argue these very just and logical principles is when this person or state is not interested in building an architecture of peace, but is interested in building an architecture of conflict,” he noted.
Unfortunately, he said, when we look at the positions of Azerbaijan, it’s clear that they are directed at creating a new architecture of conflict. “One can see it even in the names of projects. From our side it’s Crossroads of Peace, we want the whole Caucasus to be this big crossroads of peace, not only Armenia, but all of Caucasus, because without our neighbors it’s impossible. But unfortunately, from the Azerbaijani side they have decided that they can name a road on the territory of Armenia, which is disrespectful and illogical. They have decided that they can put forward conditions on how transport routes should operate on the territory of Armenia, and their position is that if that doesn’t happen, they will keep blockading Armenia. So, you can see that all their positions are aimed at creating a new architecture of conflict at a time when there is a truly historic opportunity to create an architecture of peace,” Rubinyan stated.
Regarding security, the Armenian lawmaker said Azerbaijan and those who support Azerbaijan speak about the necessity of third parties guaranteeing the security over connectivity, “but that’s again illogical, because if we want peace, that means people should interact, it means that an Armenian passing though the territory of Azerbaijan should feel safe, and it’s Azerbaijan’s responsibility to guaranty his safety.”
“And vice versa: the whole notion that an Azerbaijani passing though Armenia shouldn’t meet Armenians on its way is again in the logic of conflict, not in the logic of peace,” he said.
