Author: Ara Felekian

What cultural values are left in the territories of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) occupied by Azerbaijan during last year’s war and what opportunities exist for their salvation?

In a video report by the Artsakh Public TV on Tuesday, representatives of the museums shared specific details.

The director of the Artsakh State Historical Museum of Local Lore, Zhanna Arstamyan, says that as a result of the 44-day war, 12 museums under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Artsakh have been left out of Artsakh’s control. They include 10 state and 2 private museums housing 20,345 exhibits.

Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan on Tuesday met with representatives of the healthcare sector within the framework of meetings with specialists from different spheres, the official Facebook page of the former president reported.

Some of the issues raised during the meeting concerned the border situation in Syunik and Gegharkunik Provinces and Armenia’s appeal to the CSTO for assistance.

“You [the Armenian authorities] have placed your positions deep within and Azerbaijan has advanced, now you are shouting out loud, ‘Let Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan come and push Azerbaijan back.’ But where are you? How is it that within the CSTO everyone has more friendly relations with Azerbaijan, which is not a CSTO member state, than with Armenia. Should they answer this simple question or not? Why should Belarus, Kazakhstan and other countries have better relations with Azerbaijan? Now you turn to them. Why should they protect you? You don’t stand on your border and defend it, you apply to the CSTO and present it to the people as heroism. So what is next? One of the main functions of the state – ensuring security – is simply worthy of ridicule,” the ex-president said.

Speaking about the border crisis and possible developments in Syunik, Kocharyan said: “No measures are being taken to strengthen the borders of the country. If you have a border, you must defend it with your own military. To do this, you need to understand where your positions are. During this period, our armed forces had to be given the opportunity to deploy troops with the appropriate density on this border area.

“I believe we will first of all be demanded to demarcate the borders and forced to recognize those borders. They will constantly force [the authorities] to sign something. These are broken people, and, I am convinced, that there will be no resistance.”

“Our key problem at the moment is the complete lack of new resources to resist,” he stated. 

The thesis of the current Armenian authorities that “if Armenia refuses to make concessions, new war will break out” has undergone “various transformations” over the recent eight months, according to military expert Tigran Abrahamyan, the head of the analytical center Henaket.

“Karvachar, Akna, Kashatag, and later the parts of Kovsakan, Sanasar, which were held by Armenians as of November 9, 2020, as well as a number of villages in the Hadrut region, were ceded [to Azerbaijan] with a similar ‘justification’,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.

Abrahamyan claimed during the pre-election period, this thesis is used with various changes to convince people that “if we are not in power, the opposition will start a new war in the event of winning the elections.”

“This not only aims to complete their dirty work by intimidating and misleading people and playing on their emotions, but also paves the way for further territorial losses.

“The sector of society with sober judgement today believes it is not the time to reproach and accuse each other, but it is necessary to join forces in order to explain to people, convince them and present the reality to them through various tools.

“It does not matter whether it will be carried out through rallies, actions, interviews or meetings on the ground, the priority is presenting the true state of affairs to people,” he said.

Political analyst Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan has reacted to the latest remarks of Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan.

In a public post on Facebook on Friday, he called the response of the Foreign Ministry “a slap in the face for the traitor capitulator.”

“… The processes of border delimitation and demarcation between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan should be part of the comprehensive peaceful settlement of the conflict, within the framework of which issues of de-occupation of the territories of the Republic of Artsakh and determination of the final legal status of Artsakh under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship should be addressed first,” he quoted the spokeswoman as saying.

“It was rather impressive. They can start considering ordering #antinikol T-shirts. I guess the ministry will also be called an “Azerbaijani agent” soon,” the analyst said.