YEREVAN—President Serzh Sarkisian on Saturday, while speaking to a group of youth in Tsaghkadzor, said his preference is for Azeri President Ilham Aliyev to stay on as the leader of Azerbaijan in the upcoming elections there in October.
“Armenia, and not only Armenia, is interested in neighbors that have chosen the path of democracy. Thus, when it comes to a neighbor, especially to a partner in negotiations, Armenia is invariably interested in a democratic Azerbaijan,” said Sarkisian, in response to a question from the audience, which was comprised of participants in a youth camp known as the Bazeh Pan-Armenian Youth Gathering.
“However, if we disregard that fact for a moment, the answer to the question is the following: we would rather see President Ilham Aliyev win,” said Sarkisian, citing the continuing peace talks over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as his reason.
“We have been going through a difficult and long process of negotiations, and the framework for a solution is almost outlined, at least through the public endorsement by both parties of the principles proposed by the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group,” explained Sarkisian. “They have been actively negotiated for the last four years. Certainly, I wouldn’t say that the process is very vigorous now, nevertheless a certain progress has been made, and if after the elections President Aliyev is able to display political will and rise above his fanatical Armenophobia, I believe that would be the most acceptable choice for us.”
SARKIISIAN IS SMOKIN SOME BAD ERIGILAH STUFF —IDIOTIC —PROGRESS?–YOU GOT TO BE ON DRUGS OR IN DENIAL.
really? unbelievable
If President Sarksyan said “Armenia, is interested in neighbors that have chosen the path of democracy” and no one questioned; how about us?
Then it was a well practiced show.
I THINK MR SARKISYAN IS DREAMING I KNOW YOU SPEAK AZERI AS HE DOES. BUT COME ON GET SERIOUS. IT IS NOT A GOOD POLITIC TO ENDORSE AN ENEMY CANDADATE. MR SARKISYAN NEEDS TO READ SOME INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS BOOKS AND STUDY POLITIC.
This is so #?$*ing stupid, it is beyond words. And THIS is the guy we are supposed to trust our homeland’s future with? what a disaster @!!!!
Sarkisian is correct but the reasons he cites is amateurish. And I have no idea what he’s talking about with “Democratic Azerbaijan” – surely the President of Armenia knows that Aliyev and Democracy are on opposite sides of the spectrum? The real reason Aliyev is good for Armenia is that it is better to have a ridiculous clownish dictator thief who’s bark is louder than his bite, than one who has any intelligence which can bring actual harm to Armenia.
Is Mr. Sarkisian trying to create a new oil revolution in Axerbaijan??
Pseudo-president Sarksyan has lost all his Karabakhis supporters, and International criminal Aliyev is his last (but not least) supporter. Two years ago, I had written, ” Fisherman sees fisherman from afar” (Russian Proverb).
Those three glasses of white liquid in front of Sarkisian must be vodka, not water, and refilled for his response. I never understood the opposition against this man until now. Then again I don’t know if it is true and the context is missing.
Ofcourse Sarkisian wants Alivey to win the electiond – they are friends!
Seriously? If Mr. Sarkisian has actually said these words, then the only conclusion one can make is that he has completely lost any sense of self respect, and by extension , as the President of the Republic of Armenia, any respect for his own people. Leaving aside the fact that in any civilized country it is unacceptable for a President to endorse in public the candidacy of anybody in another country, but, endorsing Aliyev, who has declared ALL Armenians to be enemies of Axerbaijan, who has blockaded the country that Mr. Sarkisian is the President of, for the last 20+years, who welcomed the Azeri ax murderer of one of Mr. Sarkisian’s citizens back home as a hero? How can we ask other people to respect us, when we ourselves show so little respect for our own? It’s truly mind boggling and tragic!
Perhaps this is Mr.Sarkisian’s version of “realpolitik” ,or is this the second act of the infamous “Protocols”? May be the following words attributed to the President point to the main reason for his “endorsement”: “… the framework for the solution is almost outlined…” “…they have been negotiated for the last four years…” So now that Mr. Sarkisian has put Armenia on a solid democratic foundation and the framework for the solution of Artsakh’s fate has been negotiated, all we have to do is encourage that the Armenophobe sultan of Baku gets re-elected, finds the right kind of religion, turns his fiefdom into a bastion of democracy, returns billions of dollars worth of Russian arms to the seller, offers to share the oil revenue of his country with Armenia and Karabakh,… Dream on, brother, dream on…
If president Serj Sarkissian said best for us is Ilham Aliyev , than he our president knows something !
during the ARTSAKH NKR war we all loved Azerbaijan president Abulfas Elcibey for him supplying us with weapons !
Was this in a dream he saw?
Wow, is our president that stupid? Aliev and democracy have nothing in common…….what is he talking about? Aliev is the worse president for his country and for us, there is NO progress in negotiations…….
SAD, very sad………..this is the man who suppose to be our representation in the world.
Democratic? Did we forget Safarov? He is a hero now… Does Gurgen Markaryan ring a bell anyone?
President playing Chess. Posters here are clueless. Thank God the Diaspora does not run Armenia.
Azerbaijan is going to have a president anyways so might as well it is a known individual with established and familiar patterns of thinking and behavior, so Sarkisian’s argument makes sense.
Fellows, the president is right. Aliyev will win the elections no matter what the Armenian president says or not. Its better for the continued negotiations to point out what Aliyev needs to abandon, his Armenophobia, which is a disaster for the coming generations and their mindset. Democracy or no democracy in Azerbaijan, that is the internal matter of the people of Azerbaijan… So all you nice fellows, sitting in beatiful homes in the west… Grow up!
Why are you guys surprised that much? Serzh Sarkisian was traitorous from the start. We, Armenians, can’t trust him anymore.
Haven’t you ever heard of the saying
“Better the devil you know..”
Aliyev might not be an ideal choice, but he’s much studied and well understood.
That includes his weaknesses and shortcomings.
Our president is a wise person.
Presidents explanation is nonsense, but his intent does have a reason.
Look at it this way, Aliyev has a ridiculous amount of power and money in Azerbaijan. Do you think he and his would give this up? The obvious answer is NO. The traditional ploy of people in power, who wish to hold on to their power when it is challenged is to start a war. As in this case, if Aliyev’s power is challenged, if he loses the election all his billions and his power will be taken away from him and he will be in a very bad position like Kaddafi/Mubarak, he obviously can’t have that. So if his power is truly challenged, he will unleash his forces on Artsakh and distract the people away from elections to something which he has been preparing for a long time i.e. hatred for Armenia amongst the Azeris and status quo over Artsakh. If a war starts, and he wins, he’s back in favor as the Azeri hero, if he loses, he wouldn’t have had any better options to play anyway. Artsakh is his trump card and final play, Sarkisian knows this which is why he endorsed Aliyev. An opposition win for Azerbaijan would be a disaster for Armenia. If a war starts again, it will be on a much larger scale than what happened 20 odd years ago as both sides, Azeris more so, are much more heavily armed and the type of armaments negate most strategic positional advantages i.e. they can destroy each other’s cities without taking a step in to them.
I don’t think he’s a traitor. He is just plain stupid. He rivals Bush in intelligence. I haven’t seen him do one thing right. For starters, he is too short and his confidence is comparable. I always feel that he has been castrated. His stance is always timid. I favor Aliyev being toppled. Baku is a dictatorship. Once you get rid of the ruling family, everyone will scatter. Some crazy might decide to attack Armenia, but he’ll be powerless. I foresee a major power struggle if Aliyev is toppled and that would weaken Azerbaijan. That is plain politics.
Sarkisian might know of strategies to keep his crony oligarchs from being outcompeted in business or how to stuff ballot boxes. But he doesn’t know anything about how the world operates. The bad part is that he doesn’t know that he doesn’t know. The good part is that Aliyev is equally stupid. If this were a game of chess, we should take out both kings and have the rest of the field play.