29 March 2024

Friday, 20:01

BURDEN OF AGGRESSION

Pashinian starts to realise the heavy burden of Karabakh on Yerevan

Author:

15.06.2018

On June 1, the Armenian revolution reached the occupied Nagorno Karabakh, when certain David Harutyunian and Albert Avetisian came to grips with at least four officials of the National Security Service (NSS) of the so-called Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR, a puppet regime created by Armenia on the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan) and eventually were severely beaten. According to eyewitnesses, local police was on the scene but did not intervene, although it later arrested the victims. As a result, what began as a domestic dispute grew into large-scale protests with the blocked streets and far-reaching demands to punish the guilty NSS officials and dismiss the top management of law enforcement agencies. According to Armenian media, the protesters also demanded the release of all political prisoners and unification with Armenia.

President of NKR Bako Sahakian met with the members of his government and the heads of other state bodies and promised to investigate the issue “in strict compliance with the letter and spirit of the law and, if possible, publicly.” The next day, the chief of the Karabakh police Kamo Aghajanian, state minister Araik Harutyunian and the head of NSS Arshavir Garamian resigned.

Nevertheless, many observers believe that the demands for justice for the victims of events is only a secondary cause of protests. In fact, the actual reason is such that the Karabakh regime has always been synchronised with the Yerevan regime headed by Serzh Sargsyan but after Sargsyan's departure, the Bako Sahakian government no longer fits into plans of new PM Nikol Pashinian.

Perhaps, Pashinian, who has promised a lot to Armenian people, now starts to realise how precarious his situation may be in the future and cannot stop pondering over the heavy burden of Karabakh on Yerevan. After all, the occupation of Karabakh isolated Armenia from various regional projects and the global markets simply by virtue of Karabakh’s geographical location, not to mention the money that NKR sucks out of the Armenian budget.

Pro-Armenian media outlets abroad are trying to promote the “Armenian revolution” as an indicator showing that Armenia is truly a democratic state, and the current government is the most legitimate one. As a modern populist, Nikol Pashinian declares the need for reforms, intention to fight corruption, and tries to show by all possible means that Yerevan does not depend heavily on Russia.

However, it is always much easier to promise than to fulfil the promises. Armenia has long been suffering from economic and demographic crisis. It is also in the dead end in terms of transportation access. Therefore, what happened there would have happened anyway, but what will happen next is a big question. The country risks remaining undeveloped as long as the Karabakh conflict remains unresolved, and as long as Armenia fails to normalise its relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Incidentally, Armenia has even less chances for development given the anti-Russian policy of Pashinian, who has suddenly ignored the dependence of Armenian economy on Russia. Despite the Armenian-Russian meetings and negotiations immediately after Pashinian’s election, it is an undeniable fact that Pashinian’s team is ultra-pro-American. Many current members of the Armenian government have gained experience working for organisations that, for example, were financed by the Soros Foundation or are known for their explicit anti-Russian statements.

Thus, Azerbaijan is mostly concerned about the future of negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh. In his speech at the Iftar ceremony traditionally held in the holy month of Ramadan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev actually addressed to the Armenian leadership expressing his hope that it will “not repeat the mistakes of former authorities, do serious work for the speedy settlement of the conflict, and start a real, not imitated, negotiation process.”

It was yet another peaceful message from Azerbaijan. Will it be heard though?

Being not a member of the infamous Karabakh Clan, Pashinian urgently needs to assure the Karabakh Armenians that he will protect them. Perhaps that is why he did not let the situation worsen and even calmed the protesters down through his Facebook account. So, Sahakian sacrificed his law enforcement agents to keep his post for now. After all, the start of the protest movement in Karabakh immediately provoked statements that the split of society was inadmissible in a “country, which is ruled under martial law”. This was the statement of the former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian, who is said to be the ideological inspirer of Pashinian. Ter-Petrosian believes that the resignation of the chiefs of NSS and the Karabakh police “will be a heavy blow to these institutions that are the guarantors of security, and our opponents will immediately take advantage of this situation.” This is the reason the new Prime Minister Pashinian visited NKR the following day and made a very dramatical statement that he would send his son to serve in the Karabakh army. Finally, this also explains Pashinian’s statement about the alleged inefficiency of the Karabakh talks without the participation of the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In other words, Pashinian is going to repeat the same mistakes as all of his predecessors. In fact, his last statement can destroy the fragile agreements reached earlier between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Yerevan continues its destructive policy that disrupts the negotiation process to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and maintains the status quo. Therefore, if Azerbaijan opts for a forceful solution of the conflict because of the collapse of negotiations, Yerevan will have to take full responsibility for the consequences.

Obviously, this is neither a desirable nor a democratic scenario for Armenians residing in Karabakh, who are mainly interested in raising their welfare and ensuring safe future for their children. On the other hand, Pashinian is also facing a serious dilemma. The “revolution” in Armenia and its echo in Karabakh reveal the true face of local authorities to Armenian people, to Armenia’s closest partners, and, finally, to the entire world community.



RECOMMEND:

364