Armenian activist: ‘We can coexist peacefully with Azerbaijanis’

Ishkhan Verdyan, an Armenian activist and blogger known for his peace initiatives, expressed his confidence in the peaceful coexistence of Armenians and Azerbaijanis, News.Az reports. 

In his interview with Bizim.Media, the activist said: “I’m sure that we can coexist peacefully. Armenians and Azerbaijanis live in the same cultural space, and the life values and habits of our peoples are the same. My warm friendship with many Azerbaijanis, who value me not only as a person but also as an Armenian, is proof of this."

Referring to the Armenian leadership’s desire to delay the peace process, Verdyan said the reason for this is probably that Armenia’s subjectivity as an independent political player is zero.

“Ordinary Armenian nationals undoubtedly stand for peace and long for the day when peace will be achieved. But the Armenian leadership is doing everything possible to delay the peace process, and there can be no doubt about that. Armenia’s complete economic dependence on Russia does not give it any chance to demonstrate political independence. Any self-will of Armenia poses a threat of starvation for its citizens, so the government must quietly obey the instructions from its patrons,” the activist added. 

According to Verdyan, some foreign forces are interested in the eruption of a new conflict in the South Caucasus.

“I believe that some forces initially saw the Karabakh conflict as a tool of influence on Türkiye. Despite the calls for peace by Western countries, every day we are faced with open lobbying for a new conflict and war. In this case, suffice it to take a look at the behaviour of France,” he said. 

“I disagree with the opinion that the Armenian lobby forces France to act like this. The Armenian lobby cannot be strong enough to dictate anything to a powerful European state, especially since this “omnipotent” lobby is unable to influence any global issue. Obviously, a lobby organization acts in line with the interests of the country where it operates. Why does France take an interest in the Karabakh issue? To my opinion, the only logical answer is to trigger tension on Türkiye’s borders and try to detract Ankara from the regional integration processes,” the activist added.

News.Az 

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