Arthur Khachikyan: Destroy the Armenians and not allow them to have a state—this is Turkiye’s policy

Speaking with Alpha News, PhD from Stanford University Arthur Khachikyan noted that the Armenian authorities, grabbing the tail of the West, surrendered Artsakh instead of acting in accordance with the agreement of November 9․

“A country with such leadership could not even surrender Artsakh correctly; it was a crime. Even if you take such a step, instead of being guided by the agreement of November 9, according to which there was hope for some kind of status for Artsakh in the future, you go to the West and recognize Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. That is, this is a shameful defeat. After that, it was already very difficult to keep Artsakh. If you make such a concession, you can no longer demand mutual concessions. This should have been done when he went to Prague and when he made this shameful decision.

At that time, he should have obtained a guarantee from Azerbaijan that no further demands would be made. In a normal country, a normal negotiator or leader would have done this. With our consent, we conceded everything; we betrayed our people and broke the spirit of our nation. We have 120.000 refugees, and we ourselves again opened the page of the Armenian Genocide. This has never happened in the history of any nation,” Khachikyan said.

Our interlocutor noted that, having received Artsakh, Aliyev’s appetite hasn’t disappeared, and he still wants more․

“Aliyev is not satisfied; he has other demands. Now we have become his target. There is a task to destroy the Armenian people, which they are doing piece by piece. They destroyed one part; now it’s our turn. Aliyev does not stop. He demands enclaves and corridors, and he talks about the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia. A person who wants peace does not say that. These are not the words of a person who wants peace; these are the words of a person who wants to destroy the Armenians. Over the past 130 years, Turkiye’s policy has been unchanged: it wants to destroy the Armenians at every opportunity and prevent them from having a state. This was done in Western Armenia, Cilicia, and now Karabakh. We are being destroyed piece by piece,” Khachikyan noted.

Khachikyan wonders whether any considerations were made before the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and what will happen to the Armenian economy and business.

“Have they even considered what will happen to the Armenian economy? What will happen to exporters of vegetables, fruits, wine and other products in Armenia? Who will win if, for example, the Turkish economy is here? The Turkish economy is more powerful. Prices are low. You don’t even need to be an economist to understand who will win,” Khachikyan concluded.