The mirror withdrawal of troops was a big tactical mistake on our part, and it was first mentioned on May 27. I resigned hours later. Former Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian told reporters this at Freedom Square, commenting on the question on the mirror withdrawal of troops.
“There were theoretical talks about [Armenia-Azerbaijan border] delimitation, demarcation, and I expressed my opinion; my opinion was negative…I find that this mirror withdrawal was a very big tactical mistake on our part because, if you remember, there were targeted statements until May 27, and the last statement was made by the US State Department, and it was a very harsh statement,” Aivazian said. He added that before that, France, the EU, Canada, India, and Iran had made statements.
To the question whether it is possible to find effective solutions in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) issue with the removal of Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and these authorities, Ara Aivazian expressed a conviction that it is possible to correct the situation through diplomacy.
“Geopolitical adventurism is a very dangerous thing for us now,” he added, in particular.
Answering the question on the normalization of Armenia’s relations with Turkey, Ara Aivazian said that it is necessary to have a dialogue between the two countries in some way, but not in the language of preconditions.
“And if the regional and extra-regional countries are interested in peace, stability in this region, then they must abandon the categories of ‘winner’ and ‘loser.’ I do not see today that Turkey and Azerbaijan, the forces that serve and support them, think that way,” he said.
In response to the remark that there is a public fear among Armenians that the so-called “Zangezur corridor” is a precondition for concluding a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, Ara Aivazian said that he does not participate in the talks, and therefore cannot say.
And to the question whether there was such a conversation during his tenure as Armenia’s FM, he answered: “At least the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not have, did not receive any documents, any ideas during my tenure. Only, I regularly heard the Azerbaijani side was saying that they had proposed peace. But other than that, I did not have any documents or talks.”
And when asked whether he is in favor of PM Nikol Pashinyan leaving power, Ara Aivazian said that he expressed his position on this issue by resigning from the post of Foreign Minister.