2024-03-20 23:24:32
Author: Elchin Alioglu
Source: Trend
“What will happen if we refuse to discuss delimitation and demarcation issues with Baku? If we refuse now, it means there will be a war at the end of the week. I know what will happen at the end of this war. Then you will say on the square that we are simple villagers, we did not know it would happen, you you knew. The process of delimitation and demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan is entering the practical stage. Our policy is to prevent war.”
According to Armenian journalist Voskan Sargsyan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this in his meeting with the residents of Tavush.
V. Sarkisyan announced the details of the meeting.
The journalist shared his impressions about the meeting:
“If previously Nikol Pashinyan was warmly welcomed in Voskepar (Eskipara village, – ed.), this time he was greeted very coldly. When Pashinyan entered the hall, half of the people in the hall did not even need to get up from their seats. Residents of Voskepar, Baganis and Voskevan villages took part in the meeting held at the House of Culture. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, Governor of Tavush Hayk Galumyan, head of Noyemberyan community Arsen Aghababyan, as well as leaders of Voskevan, Voskepar and Baghanis communities also participated in the meeting.
The journalist said that the meeting participants were enraged by Nikol Pashinyan’s words:
“Pashinyan told the villagers that the territories of the 4 villages where Azerbaijanis used to live should be handed over to Azerbaijan, otherwise the war will start.” In response to the question, “Is there any guarantee that Azerbaijan will not advance on the border again and start a war after the surrender of the 4 villages?” Nikol Pashinyan said that there is no guarantee he was content to say that he didn’t.”
Pashinyan said that there are 3 options regarding these 4 villages: “To surrender the villages, not to surrender, or to go to war with Azerbaijan. In the last case, Turkey will enter the war on the side of Azerbaijan.”
“The participants of the meeting believe that Nikol Pashinyan tried to scare the residents of Voskepar by mentioning the name of Turkey and to convince them that the villages should be surrendered. The residents of Voskepar are worried that after the transfer of 4 villages to Azerbaijan, traffic between Armenia and Georgia, Ijevan and Noyemberyan will be disrupted, and the prime minister said that Yenokavan, which passes through the mountains He said that the Cucevan road will be built,” the journalist wrote.
It should be recalled that N. Pashinyan did not rule out that the delimitation process will start from Tavush last week. After that, the discussion about the transfer of the villages of Baganis Ayrim, Gizilhajili, Ashagi Eskipara and Kheyrimli to Azerbaijan became heated. The mentioned villages are part of Gazakh district.
The Armenian press writes that the meetings held by the prime minister in the border region are related to the future handover process.
Voskepar (historical name Eskipara – ed.), where Pashinyan held a meeting, is located between the village of Upper Eskipara and the main part of Azerbaijan, which was occupied by Armenia in the 1990s. Illegal transfer of “Voskepar” and some other territories to Armenia during the Soviet era separated the villages of Yukhari Eskipara, Barkhudarlı and Sofulu from the main part of Azerbaijan and turned them into an exclave.
Armenians call Eskipara “Voskepar” since 1950.
Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Tavush district to emphasize that he is interested in starting the process of demarcation and delimitation of the conventional state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan as soon as possible is not without reason.
As Pashinyan said, the problem is not that “Azerbaijan might otherwise start a war”, but Armenia’s inability to find a way out in the face of serious risks and threats, and the fact that France’s and generally the West’s hopes regarding large-scale support have not come true.
After the odious resolution adopted in the European Parliament last week, the discussions on the issue of Armenia’s candidacy for membership in the European Union have accelerated many times.
In the mentioned document, the European Commission was entrusted to consider the issue of Armenia’s candidacy for EU membership.
According to Peter Stano, the official representative of the European Union for foreign relations, Armenia can now apply for EU membership: “Every country strives for a better future for its people.”
Of course, Russia’s reaction to what happened is clear. The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, once again advised Armenia to “not believe Brussels’ promises and act in accordance with national interests.”
Thus, the European Union declares that it is ready to fully open its doors to Armenians. However, if we take into account the different and often contradictory statements of the Armenian leadership, Yerevan does not dare to approach these doors.
Nikol Pashinyan is preparing to put the issue of his country joining the European Union to a nationwide referendum. Most likely, the voting will take place by the fall.
According to the results of the voting, if the majority chooses Armenia’s pro-Western course, Pashinyan will put all the responsibility on the people.
However, neither Pashinyan nor the people in his team have disclosed what kind of shocks the country’s economy will suffer if Armenia leaves the CSTO, as well as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Customs Union and minimizes relations with Russia.
Official Yerevan talks about the “rapid development” of the country’s economy in recent times, but does not mention that this “development” is entirely related to trade with Russia, or rather, Moscow, which is trying to avoid Western sanctions, uses Yerevan as a transit area for imports.
Nikol Pashinyan understands that Armenia will face punitive measures from Moscow as soon as it applies for EU membership: those decisions could have disastrous consequences for Yerevan on the military, political and economic levels.
It is for this reason that Pashinyan wants to ensure the serious support of Brussels to fulfill the demands of the West, first of all France.
Moreover, Brussels now lacks effective mechanisms to protect Armenians from Russia’s wrath and its consequences.
The leadership of Armenia also realizes that if it continues to create artificial obstacles in the process of signing a peace agreement in direct negotiations with Azerbaijan without intermediaries, it will face serious problems if it tries to prolong the process as much as possible.
Seeing that the attempts to postpone the demarcation and delimitation of the conditional state border have failed, official Yerevan realizes that there are no ways out, and that there are no variations to avoid accepting Baku’s conditions.
It is for this reason that N. Pashinyan addressed harsh messages to the local Armenians in his speech in Tavush district and even threatened them with the “threat of war”.
However, there is no such danger, and Azerbaijan does not intend to start military operations against Armenia.
Simply put, N. Pashinyan thinks that he has chosen the most optimal option possible in the face of continuously increasing pressure from Russia, Iran, France, the European Union and the United States.
That option is to start the procedures for the liberation of our 8 villages that are still under Armenian occupation and to start the fair change of the status of 4 villages of Gazakh region at the initial stage.
Although Yerevan has been trying since the middle of last year to include this stage in the agenda of peace talks, its efforts have been unsuccessful.
The peace agreement has become a fateful issue for Nikol Pashinyan’s rule: if Yerevan does not sign this document with Baku and start establishing interstate relations, restoring communications, and demarcating and delimiting the conventional state border, Armenia will not be able to cope with the risks and challenges it will face.
Armenians have fallen into the trap created by the nefarious and dirty plans they have built since centuries.
To their traps…