Levon Zurabyan writes: “WHAT DOES THE QUESTION OF THE DESTRUCTION OF ARTSAK ALWAYS REMOVE NIKOL PASHINIAN?”

The significance of Pashinyan recognizing Nagorno Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan seems not to be fully understood. Pashinyan himself and his lawyers justify this recognition by the fact that before him, Putin recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

These speakers rely on the fact that people far from politics do not understand the most important principles of conflict resolution diplomacy.

Not only Putin, but also former President of Russia Yeltsin, as well as US Presidents Clinton, Bush and others, France, Iran, China recognized Nagorno Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan after the collapse of the USSR and made many statements about it.

The whole problem, however, is that until the parties to the conflict (from 1994 to 1999, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, and from 1999, after Nagorno-Karabakh was excluded from the negotiation format, Armenia and Azerbaijan) did not reach an agreement on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, the world continued to believe that there is a conflict over the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is not resolved, but should be resolved through peaceful negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group. Moreover, proposals for a peaceful settlement were put on the negotiation table by the co-chairs of the Minsk Group – the USA, France and Russia. in case of implementation, the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh status issue would be suspended indefinitely, and Artsakh would receive de facto independence under established peace conditions.

This possibility was finally closed by Nikol Pashinyan by recognizing Nagorno Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in 2022. Pashinyan is actually right in saying that he shut down the Karabakh movement and he did it with his 2022 decision.

With the decision to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, the conflict, which was based on the disagreement over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, formally ended, because the recognized parties of the conflict, Armenia and Azerbaijan, came to an agreement. From that moment, the Republic of Artsakh became an “illegal separatist association” from the point of view of international law, for the destruction of which Azerbaijan received all the rights. Neither the Russians, whose peacekeepers, by the way, did not even have a mandate to open fire, nor any other country or international organization had the right to hinder Azerbaijan’s “anti-terrorist operation”, which the fruitless discussions in the UN Security Council also testified.

Azerbaijan could not miss the created opportunity. if he delayed, the continued existence of the Republic of Artsakh would be re-legitimized as a reality on the ground. Yes, the genocidal deportation of Armenians from Artsakh was carried out by Azerbaijan, but Nikol Pashinyan ensured the impunity of such a move and the absence of any international consequences.

Thus, Artsakh was destroyed because of Pashinyan’s decision, and that guilt will remain on his conscience forever. And why he did so is the subject of another publication.”

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