Seyran Ohanyan: Current authorities ‘lack capacity’ to address challenges to Armenia, Artsakh
In an interview with Tert.am, former Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan shared his concerns over the situation around Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), emphasizing the incumbent authorities’ inability to address the post-war challenges.
As an alternative, he proposed forming an interim government composed of the current politico-military leadership and the Homeland Salvation Movement (the group of 17 opposition parties demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation) “to embark on a situation-based decision-making”.
Highlighting Armenia’s role as the security guarantor of Artsakh, Ohanyan also stressed the importance of structural revisions in the Defense Army (which he said “should be preserved” as a separate institution responsible for handling military affairs_.
Asked whether he doesn’t see delays in the decision-making, the former minister agreed that the failures suffered after the defeat in the 44-day war “continue also today”, with both the November 10 Russia-brokered truce and the January 11 trilateral statement (coupled with the Armenian authorities’ subsequent actions) demonstrating that the situation remains actually tense.
Meantime, Ohanyan hesitated to firmly state that Armenia is satisfactorily fulfilling its mission of a security guarantor. “It’s hard for me to say it now, as I find that serious steps in the state administration sector are nonetheless necessary – in and out of the country - to overcome this situation in Armenia and Artsakh, and these authorities have demonstrated that they are not able to do that. They did all their best to [provoke] a war but failed to do anything to ensure a proper management during the war. Moreover, they did encourage the entire retreat and defeat in the war period,” he added.
Asked about the feasibility of preventive actions under conditions of the current authorities’ resistant hold on power, Ohanyan said he believes that “every possible step must be taken now” to achieve a rapid regime change.
In his words, the situation has been tense since the start of the Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises on Monday. “Those are, in nature, offensive [drills] aimed at improving their capacities. And they are close to our border, as well as the 102nd Russian Military Base. Hence we need to draw the right conclusions from here. Apart from self-organization in the country, it is important to take rapid action also as part of their international cooperation. Additionally, diplomatic steps need to be taken – also in terms of enhancing the joint actions with Russia. Last but not least, we too, can conduct military exercises, but it is necessary to clarify the plans,” the former minister said, warning also of a possible psychological impact.
“I understand military exercises are, in a way, a psychological pressure for us – as well as a reminder to Russia - but we do need to resolutely resist the Turkish-Azerbaijani cooperation through corresponding in collaboration with our strategic ally,” the former minister added.
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