Karapetyan: Deceived Armenians feel guilty towards Azerbaijanis

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenians have long realized that they were deceived by a group of greedy people, and feel guilty towards Azerbaijanis, said Vahagn Karapetyan, famous Armenian writer in an interview with Azeri.Today.

Currently, Karapetyan lives in Canada. He is the editor-in-chief of the “Literary Canada” magazine and a member of the Writers Union of Armenia.

Talking about the economic-political situation in his motherland, the writer said that the main source of income for Armenian authorities is the budget of the country. Therefore, in the upcoming parliamentary election, the parties will struggle to gain access to those funds.

“As for ordinary people, their welfare does not even bother the Armenian authorities,” said Karapetyan. “Citizens of Armenia are only meant to pay taxes and replenish the budget, which will then be successfully stolen.”

The writer went on to say that most Armenians opt to leave the country; in some cases the government itself forces them, as it happened with the famous human rights activist Vahan Martirosyan.

“As a result, only humbled and unpretentious people, who cannot confront the rising tyranny, remain in Armenia,” he said.

Karapetyan is sure that incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan seeks to keep the power in his hands.

Speaking about the Karabakh issue, he said that it is a burden for the citizens of Armenia, primarily from an economic point of view.

“Due to this conflict, the living standard in Armenia constantly falls and people, who have lost all hope, leave their homeland,” he said. “My compatriots have long realized that they were deceived by a bunch of greedy people, and feel guilty towards Azerbaijanis.”

Karapetyan added that the two nations should come to the negotiating table and solve all their problems by themselves.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.