2024-04-13 20:51:21
Author: Elchin Alioglu, Trend
“The West has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Karabakh Armenians in Armenia. Some of that money has already been sent to Armenia. But we have not seen that money and I think we will not see it. If this happens, only Karabakh Armenians will remain in Armenia.”
According to Metaksa Hakopyan, one of the representatives of the former separatist regime in Khankendi, Karabakh Armenians have lost faith in the authorities and state institutions of Armenia.
… Karabakh Armenians who voluntarily left Azerbaijan for Armenia do not want to live in the “motherland”. Among them, the number of those leaving Armenia is increasing rapidly.
According to the results of recent opinion polls conducted in Armenia, approximately 40 percent of Karabakh Armenians settled in the country intend to emigrate in the near future. They refuse social assistance, payments and allowances offered by state institutions.
According to official statistics, 34,000 Karabakh Armenians have already left Armenia. Among the countries they visit, Russia is on the first place.
Those who have better financial resources compared to other compatriots go to France, Canada, USA, Greece and Eastern European countries.
Life of Karabakh Armenians in Armenia is really difficult. So far, only 10,802 Armenians from Karabakh have been able to find a job.
12 percent of doctors, 8 percent of teachers, and 2 percent of officials among Karabakh Armenians who left Azerbaijan and went to Armenia were able to provide themselves with jobs.
As for the number of Karabakh Armenians in Armenia, this number is constantly increasing.
At the end of November 2023, the official Yerevan indicated their number as “100 thousand people”, but now that number has reached “150 thousand people”. If we believe the statistics of the state institutions of Armenia, the number of Karabakh Armenians is constantly increasing, and if this continues, their total number will be 200 thousand people by the end of 2024.
However, the total number of Karabakh Armenians who left Azerbaijan for Armenia at the end of September last year is approximately 42 thousand people.
This is the maximum probability: if an accurate calculation is carried out in reality, it is not excluded that this number may be 35-37 thousand.
In addition to the listed factors, unlike the official statistics and bravura statements, the Armenian economy is in a difficult situation, unemployment, hopelessness and total corruption continuously intensify the dynamics of the number of Karabakh Armenians leaving the country.
Of course, the processes increase dissatisfaction among Armenians. For example, they compare the situation in neighboring Georgia with the situation in Armenia. After the events of August 2008, US aid to Tbilisi alone reached 1 billion dollars. The European Union sent 120 million to Georgia.
Despite the numerous “support” statements of France and the European Union, the amount of financial resources addressed to Armenia from the West for the purpose of helping Karabakh Armenians did not exceed 72 million dollars.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his team deny all accusations. Official Iravan declares that “all necessary work is being done” to solve social and household problems of Karabakh Armenians.
Moreover, the authorities in Yerevan plan to organize an international donor conference to attract more aid to Armenia.
However, if all this creates an opportunity to solve the social problems related to Karabakh Armenians, at least partially, the power elites of Yerevan anticipate the difficulties that their political claims may create.
The political claims of the ex-head of the former separatist junta of Karabakh Armenians, Samvel Shahramanyan, are not over. He still considers himself the illusory “leader” of the mythical “Nagorno-Karabakh” and holds press conferences in his office in Yerevan, addresses appeals to international organizations, etc.
Although N. Pashinyan himself said that “Armenia has a government, the “government in exile” cannot operate here”, and although he said that “the political activity of the Karabakh Armenians concentrated in Armenia can create problems and threats to the country’s security”, the official Iravan is one of the people allegedly “targeted” is using it for its own interests.
A special building was allocated to S. Shahramanyan and his group in the capital of Armenia, and all expenses of this building are paid from the state budget.
If N. Pashinyan considers the “government in exile” of Karabakh Armenians illegitimate and their activities unacceptable, logically, he should have removed S. Shahramanyan and his gang from the building, and should have given instructions to take appropriate measures against them within the framework of the current legislation of Armenia.
But the constant difference between N. Pashinyan’s words and actions is showing itself in the most obvious way this time.
Karabakh Armenians in Armenia need the Yerevan authorities to get more funding from the West, especially from the US-France-EU trio, to get as many funds as possible under the name of “aids” and then quickly divert those funds to armaments.
Washington knows this, Paris willingly agrees, Brussels acts as if nothing happened.
The Pashinyan administration, which has turned Karabakh Armenians into a tool, is not interested in the problems of some average statistician Mkritych or Haykanush.
Iravan knows very well that the return of Karabakh Armenians to Azerbaijan is not possible within the framework of the conditions it has announced and does not intend to change.
The conditions are known: the total majority of Karabakh Armenians in Armenia do not want to accept Azerbaijani citizenship and agree to live in accordance with the legislation of Azerbaijan.
They still talk about the ephemeral “right of the nation to self-determination”, talk about “independent and sovereign Nagorno-Karabakh”, and even say that there is “freedom” to create armed groups.
Of course, return is impossible under such absurd conditions.
Azerbaijan is ready to ensure the return of Armenians from Karabakh and their safe and normal life.
Just with one condition: every (!) Karabakh Armenian who will return must accept Azerbaijani citizenship.
It’s that simple…