MARCH 30, 2018
In recent days, the incident related to 19-year-old Asya Khachatryan, whose behavior and appearance do not meet the accepted Armenian and Artsakh standards, has become the main topic of social networks. Several sub-topics were mixed in the discussions: Armenian-Karabakh, honor-adat, police permissiveness, legality and personal freedom, patriotism, gender discrimination, etc. The problems accumulated over the years became the subject of discussion at once, in one coil.
In legal countries, such cases are called “cases”, when any case of legal or public resonance appears as the target of heated public discussions, as a result of which the society reevaluates its worldview, formulates new values, legal attitudes and norms.
The policemen of the provincial town tried to bring order to the girl with blue dyed hair and smoking on the street in their typical way – by beating, humiliating and cursing in the street, without following the legal procedures, which resulted in what happened: the Armenian-Karabakh distinction was “repaired” again, as well as a number of legal issues that needed to be resolved came to the surface: the status of the military service of RA citizens in Artsakh, the issue of the protection of Armenians in Artsakh. the problem of the people of Artsakh and, in general, the status of Artsakh, etc. And here, too, we face a great political illegality, which was laid at the foundation of the creation of the Republic of Armenia.
In 1988, the population of Armenia and Artsakh united in an unprecedented way to ensure the publicly heralded “unification”. As a result of popular pressure, the Supreme Council of Soviet Armenia adopted a joint decision with Artsakh in 1989, by which Karabakh was recognized as part of Armenia, and the people of Artsakh, in fact, received Armenian citizenship in 1990. elected its deputies to the Parliament of the United Republic during the elections. Everything was clear here. in this case, Armenian soldiers would legally serve in Stepanakert, and Asya’s violation of rights would be resolved in Stepanakert itself, if she applied to the local city court with a civil lawsuit.
The beginning of Asya’s Artsakh adventures was set much earlier, even before her birth, in 1991, when the country that declared independence in Armenia, without legally canceling the decision on the unification of Artsakh with Armenia and without Artsakh itself, held an independence referendum in Armenia, and later legally, Artsakh was officially recognized on international platforms. recognized as part of Azerbaijan. This happened through the commitments undertaken by Armenia during its accession to the CIS, as well as its membership in the OSCE, which were ratified by the RA Parliament and the citizens of Armenia were not aware of those points. Basically, it was done secretly, without overturning the previous decision of the Supreme Body.
It is no coincidence that it was at that time, in 1991-1992, that the Armenian-Karabagh divisive statements were heard for the first time by the political leaders of Armenia. Basically, it was done to create a moral environment with the intention of justifying the action taken, to show that the “Karabakh people” are putting Armenia under attack by their problem, leading it to starvation and enmity with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Thus, the blow to the back of Artsakh by the leaders of “Mother Armenia” brought about a psychological consequence of separation. The case of Asya Khachatryan turned into a catalyst of accumulated mutual mistrust, highlighting more than a quarter-century of injustices, behind which political interests of a specific group were undoubtedly hidden.