29 March 2024

Friday, 11:05

A MISERABLE STATUS

Russia makes Armenia look small again

Author:

15.09.2017

In September 2017, Armenia learned yet another lesson about her real status in international relations. Blindly led by its putative greatness, Armenia had almost gone haywire again if it was not its true master, which has timely tamed the classical Khai arrogance making the bearers of the traditions of alleged antiquity and long-sufferance look miserable.

 

In the habit of recantation

Despite the declared participation in the NATO military exercises Agile Spirit 2017, which started on September 3 in Georgia, Armenia refused to join the event just before it started. Yerevan did not provide any details about the sudden change of position though. Press Secretary of the Armenian Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisian refused to explain the reason for Yerevan's sudden unwillingness to join the NATO event. Artak Zakaryan, the First Deputy of the Armenian Defense Minister, did not find anything cleverer than declaring that Yerevan had not give any consent to participate. Nevertheless, the Armenian Defense Ministry has left no evidence proving the above statements about the readiness to take part in the NATO exercises in early September wrong. Also, the official representative of the Georgian Defense Ministry, Georgi Kajarava, confirmed that Armenia had announced in advance its readiness to join the Agile Spirit 2017 but “refused to take part at the very last moment."

Incidentally, last summer, Armenia participated in two NATO events: the military exercises Saber Guardian 2017 held in Romania in July followed by the Noble Partner held in Georgia in the beginning of August. Armenia has demonstrated its interest in these pro-NATO activities despite its membership in the CSTO and being Russia's main ally in the region. Moreover, Yerevan preferred to show its westerly orientation at the period of heating tensions between Russia and the Euro-Atlantic centers. Therefore, it was surprising that the ruling regime in Armenia, which has turned the country to an outpost of Russia, dared to play anti-Russian games. During the previous maneuvers in Georgia, the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has openly admitted that his country was trying to prevent the alleged threats from Russia against the Alliance. It means that the CSTO member, Armenia, which is the host for one of the Russian military bases, also considers the Russian Federation as a threat.

Apparently, Moscow could not accept such an unreliable move of Yerevan. It is no doubt that Armenia refused to participate in Agile Spirit 2017 due to the Kremlin’s pressure. Most likely, the Russian president Vladimir Putin has persuaded his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan, who met in Sochi on August 23. It is also clear that the most powerful argument of the Kremlin was the promise to step aside in the Karabakh conflict leaving Yerevan face to face with Baku. For Armenians, who have occupied the Azerbaijani lands thanks to a certain degree of external patronage, this would mean a death warrant.

Commenting on the refusal to participate in the NATO exercises and its consequences on Armenia’s image, the Armenian experts recalled that the country had already experienced a similar Black September four years ago. On September 3, 2013, Sargsyan was also summoned to meeting with Mr. Putin, and after a conversation, his public appearance was stirring to pity. Not only did the Armenian president refuse to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union, but he even announced that his country was joining the Eurasian Economic Union. The experts also recalled that in 2009, just before the signing of the Zurich protocols with Turkey, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demonstratively advised his Armenian counterpart: "Edik, sign." And Armenia signed the Zurich protocols under the direct order of Russia.

Therefore, when answering the question about the reason for Yerevan's refusal of participation in the NATO military exercises, the local experts have to declare the following fact, which sounds cruel and insulting for their national pride: "Not only are constitutional and decision-making mechanisms absent in Armenia, but the decisions are made and adopted far beyond Armenia, in Russia".

Recently, we have witnessed an increasing number of statements made by Armenian officials about their readiness to sign a new version of the Association Agreement with the EU. Therefore, it is possible that Sargsyan, who regularly tries to run from his Russian "sahib" to the West, will soon experience another humiliation. Perhaps after another meeting with Putin...

 

The boss calls the shots, or a boomerang of occupation

In fact, the Armenian society as a whole is in a state of frantic anti-Russian hysteria. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the reaction to a military and technical cooperation between Moscow and Baku. Apparently, the Sargsyan regime does not seem to know how to solve the following puzzle: on the one hand, it is the existing government that has turned the poorest country in the South Caucasus into a military and political foothold of the Kremlin, and on the other hand, Russian supplies of new weapons to Azerbaijan signal the strengthening of strategic partnership between the two countries. This cooperation also demonstrates the shakiness of the idea deep-rooted among the Armenians that Russia is an absolute guarantor of Armenia's security able to keep the Azerbaijani territories under the occupation forever.

Today we can hear an increasing number of anti-Russian statements in Armenia calling for the revision of historical events associated with Russia. Actually, this process has a long history in Armenia. It started with substantial restriction and almost complete ousting of the Russian language in the republic during the decline of the USSR. The Russian schools were closing down, and other measures were taken to "purge the Khai nation" of Russian cultural influence. The eradication of "anything Russian" was soon followed by an unprecedented expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis and representatives of other nationalities from Armenia and has become one of the fundamental directions of Yerevan's policy of transforming the country into a mono-ethnic space.

Meanwhile, the trend of revision of historical events, which is gaining a growing popularity in Armenia, should be viewed in the context of anti-Russian sentiments periodically penetrating to the surface of the Armenian political life. The Sargsyan regime hardly manages to refrain from adopting this trend only because of fear of being left alone in confrontation with Azerbaijan without Kremlin’s protection.

Recently, the authorities have initiated the renaming of schools and streets of Yerevan named after Russian writers or communists. Local politicians openly declare that this should lead to reassessment of history. As an example, they even propose to rename Leningrad Street in Yerevan. Armenian politicians and ideologists consider it "absurd" to have a street in Yerevan with this name and urge to "form a social culture that would consider anything associated with the symbols of the occupation unacceptable by its outstanding names."

In other words, Armenians perceive Russia as an occupying country, despite the fact that it was Russia, which has contributed to the emergence of Armenian elements in the Caucasus thanks to resettling Armenians to the Northern Azerbaijan in the 19th century followed by the creation of a state (Armenia) in Irevan region of Azerbaijan.

It is not surprising that Armenians, who has traditionally falsified history, decided to replace the name "Leningrad" considered as one of the symbols of the great victory over fascism. Without this initiative of revaluation of the history, it would be impossible to erect the monument to the Nazi henchman Nzhdeh in Yerevan, which perfectly demonstrates the attitude of the Armenian authorities towards historical memory associated with Russia.

As for Armenia's attitude to Russia in general, it is initially of a consumer nature. For Yerevan, the alliance with Moscow and the deployment of the Russian military base in Armenia are important only in the context of geopolitical support of its aggression against Azerbaijan. But now, when Azerbaijan, not Armenia, is becoming Russia's key and the most important partner in the South Caucasus, the rulers in Yerevan have ceased to withstand the tension revealing their true, anti-Russian face.

Armenian ideologists who perceive alliance with Russia and its consequences as colonial governance of Armenia can do nothing else but admit that "a new vision of the future is not merely a product of struggle against the history, especially when this history is still largely a part of your present". They cannot but realize that by fanning the anti-Russian hysteria, Armenia will not be saved from the humiliating status of the Kremlin’s outpost. This truth, supported by numerous evidences of ongoing public humiliation of Armenia, clearly shows Azerbaijan who is the real party of negotiations on the Karabakh settlement. After all, Yerevan still does not understand that they would never get rid of any form of their de facto colonial status until they abandon the policy of occupation of Azerbaijani lands.

Global and regional geopolitical processes, as well as a comparative analysis of development indicators of Azerbaijan and Armenia suggest that the latter is doomed to live in fear for its future. Even the vain attempts to find a new master and to secure the endless occupation of Azerbaijani lands at the expense of external patronage cannot help Armenia.



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