Let them solve “1+1” before moving on to “3+3” — Arbak Khachatryan

First Informational’s interlocutor is expert Arbak Khachatryan.

— Mr. Khachatryan, you were in Georgia in recent days and had contacts with Georgian political figures. You have consistently put forward the view that Armenia and Georgia, as Christian countries, should act together. Now Georgia’s prime minister is making an interesting initiative, wants to mediate in Armenian-Georgian relations, and was also recently in Armenia. How do you assess Georgia’s possibilities in this matter?

— In the 1990s, when Georgia and Armenia might have ceased to exist, neither Europe nor the United States was thinking about that. Individual people—Armenians and Georgians—were fighting, giving one another bread, saving one another. How did those goods reach Armenia for 4–5 years along the road through Marneuli, where 80 percent of the population was Azerbaijani? Nobody has asked those questions. There was no publicity then; merchants and bankers could not show off that they had given someone a penny.

People did it for their countries. Georgia was in a terribly difficult condition; the country was almost disappearing. At one point, even Shevardnadze asked Armenia’s first president to send troops into Georgia. How the country lived and how it was saved—nobody knows about that today. The situation in the region now is such that the two Christian countries must unite like a fist and struggle together. An answer must be given to the Israel–Pakistan–Azerbaijan–Turkey tandem. How are two small countries and their peoples to withstand this chaos?

Just as the official did not do this before, he will not do it now. Forces and think tanks are needed, through which the world’s powerful must be made to take us into account. I assess the fact of the meeting positively, but what can the two prime ministers do in the situation that has arisen?

— In your view, is this Georgia’s own initiative, or are other countries behind all of this? On one side, the United States; on the other, Turkey’s possible participation cannot be ruled out either.

— Understand that every country has its own interests. This applies not only to powerful countries but also to small ones. Moreover, the interests of the large states come first; only afterward do they agree on smaller questions about how our countries are to survive. Alongside all the geopolitical problems, Armenia and Azerbaijan constantly fight and kill each other. One is stronger one time, the other the next. Ultimately, we must sit down and solve all those questions together. The arrival of any powerful country will create even greater problems.

Amid a global economic crisis and the coronavirus, powerful countries are supposed to leave their own problems and think about small countries like ours. Do you believe that? I do not. That is why they propose creating think tanks and doing the work. China has problems too, as does Turkey. The think tanks must work, raise issues in the right places, provide assessments, and save their country. This is not a publicity issue and has nothing to do with the public. These are thinkers who take responsibility upon themselves.

It is not a matter of elections; the state and the parliament can do nothing.

— Turkey and Russia are actively discussing the 3+3 format. Georgia appears to reject the possibility of its participation, while Armenia has not yet given a clear answer. What possibilities do you think that format has?

— It has no prospects. Let them solve “1+1” first and only then move on to “3+3.” Once you asked me why the opposition was in such a condition, and I answered: first let there be a governing side, then an opposition will emerge. Now I say the same: first let two people find a common interest with one another, then move on to the others.