South Front
Illustrative Image
At a press conference on May 22, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared that Armenia is ready to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, provided that the security of the Armenian population is ensured.
“But we must fix that the issue of the rights and security of the Armenians in Nagorno—Karabakh should be discussed in the Stepanakert—Baku dialogue,” he added.
According to Pashinyan, Armenia expects international guarantees that such negotiations will be held.
Earlier, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh will have to take Azerbaijani citizenship or leave the territory. The head of Azerbaijan noted that ethnic Armenians living in the disputed territory need to make a choice.
“There is complete freedom here, everything is decided on the basis of democratic processes. This issue should also be resolved on the basis of human rights,” Aliyev said.
Click to see full-size image
There are no drastic changes in Pashinyan’s policy. He was pursuing such a decision in recent months. In mid-April, he claimed that Armenia is ready to recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within the framework of the Azerbaijani SSR, that is including its control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The same tendance was perceived years ago when he lost the battle for the region in 2020. Then, many blamed Pashinyan for having deliberately thrown the battle in favor of Baku.
Nagorno-Karabakh has always been a stick in Yerevan’s wheel riding towards NATO and the EU. The conflict was also the reason for the deployment of the Russian military, power of Moscow’s military and diplomatic influence in the region.
The scenario of abandoning Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia was proposed by Washington.
Pashinyan’s arguments to give up on Nagorno-Karabakh are accompanied by the ongoing complaints towards Russia. On May 22, he said that Armenia may withdraw from the CSTO if it considers it an “incompetent organization.”
“If Armenia de jure decides to withdraw from the CSTO, it will happen after Armenia records that the CSTO has left Armenia. Such an agenda exists if the CSTO becomes an inactive organization. Then we will have to solve our own security issues,” Pashinyan said.
Armenian leader once again reproached the CSTO for alleged inaction, while not mentioning an important detail that the Armenian authorities themselves asked to postpone the ratification of the presence of observers of the Organization in the country.
On May 17, Russian Foreign Minister revealed that the CSTO mission was supposed to be deployed in Armenia last fall. According to him, the necessary documents were prepared, but the Armenian authorities asked to postpone their approval.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the United States is trying to “shake up the situation” in the CSTO, in particular, to withdraw Armenia from it.
“To the Armenians (we have such information) they say, come on, come to us, drive the Russians out of your territory, and the border guards too, remove the military base, the Americans will help ensure security. Outright provocation. This is also not diplomacy,” Lavrov said.
Here is the pretext aimed to slander Russia’s role in the peacekeeping process, which allegedly forces Armenia to look for “new partners”.
Pashinyan confirmed that the current leadership of the country does not intend to protect the people of the unrecognized Republic. Recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, Yerevan is making concessions to Baku, risking to provoke a split in Armenian society and an explosion of discontent in the republic. The Armenian opposition already accused Pashinyan of surrendering Nagorno-Karabakh.
