November 27, 2009

LET’S WAKE UP AND GET READY FOR DEFENSE AND RETALIATION

Statement by Hayk Youth and Student Union of Heritage Party

The Azerbaijani leadership’s belligerent rhetoric and threats to resume the war have become more frequent recently. On the eve of the November 22 Munich meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Ilham Aliyev stated that in case the meeting fails again to produce progress in the Karabakh settlement this time, Azerbaijan will resort to settling the conflict by military means. On November 25, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev said that Azerbaijan sees no other way of settling the conflict than by military means. Under these circumstances, we consider it very dangerous that the serious challenges that the republics of Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia are facing are ignored, and that those statements are deemed as propaganda only.

We, the young members of the Heritage party, considering peace as precious value, and realizing that a war would lead to significant destruction and loss of lives to the both sides, reject any military settlement of the conflict, and condemn the Azerbaijani leadership’s attempts to provoke a war by engaging its own people in a war hysteria. Nevertheless, we think that the best way to prevent a war is to be prepared for one. To be ready for a possible resumption of the war on the Artsakh front, the two Armenian states and societies should initiate adequate extraordinary actions.

We call on:

• The National Assembly to immediately recognize the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, setting up conditions for recognizing the NKR by the Armenian government at an appropriate time, as well as for signing bilateral agreements between the Republic of Armenia and the NKR in all fields, including the defense and security fields;
• The Armenian cabinet to review the 2010 state budget and, at least, reinstate defense expenditure of the 2009 budget, as well as increase significantly the overall size of loans to the NKR;
• The Republic of Armenia and NKR defense ministries: 1. Organize trainings and exercises among the entire adult population for enhancing civil defense combat skills; 2. Develop a functional plan for the government-civil society cooperation in war time and present this plan to the public;
• The Armenian Foreign Ministry to send an official note to the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, that is considered to be Armenia’s ally and strategic partner in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, demanding that any military supplies and cooperation under the 2006 and 2008 agreements between Moscow and Baku be discontinued immediately;
• The youth of Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora unite not allow any unilateral concession in the Artsakh issue, and if needed, defend our victories with arms;
• Youth organizations of the Armenian political parties to organize meetings to discuss the situation on Artsakh.

All these actions will be helpful even if the Azerbaijani leadership’s threats to resume the war are only propaganda. Otherwise, if Azerbaijan unleashes a new war against the NKR and the Republic of Armenia, the Armenian armed forces will reinstate the previous victories and would not reserve to self-defense only but will turn to counterattacks and liberate the Armenia Gardman, including Gandzak, as well as Nakhijevan, securing new buffer zones for the security of Armenia and Artsakh.