Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Matenadaran to the chants of “Nikol is a murderer”, “Turk”.
The participants of the Resistance Movement marched to the Matenadaran, where they were waiting for the arrival of Pashinyan. The President of Lithuania was also to visit the Matenadaran.
A large number of police officers blocked the section from Mashtots Avenue towards the entrance to the Matenadaran.
The opposition deputies could not tell the conference participants what the Armenian people think, what the Armenian people think about the ambassadors, given the double standards they apply, Agnes Khamoyan, a deputy from the Armenia bloc, told Armenian News-NEWS.am on Friday, commenting on the Armenian Democracy Forum held today.
“I don’t know if this is the Armenian model of democracy or, for example, the American model, but I have never seen such an unprecedented phenomenon in any democratic country, when a conference on Armenian democracy with the participation of Pashinyan, deputies from the ruling parties, EU and US ambassadors, representatives of Western-funded NGOs (better known in the public as Soros organizations), which themselves sit and record the serious progress of democracy in Armenia.
And this is in the conditions of the fact that not a single opposition deputy was invited to the discussion. Only Taguhi Tovmasyan was invited ex officio, but only as the head of the commission of the Armenian parliament on human rights.
All our appeals and demands to be allowed to take part in this conference in the country-bastion of democracy were not crowned with success.
The opposition deputies could not tell the conference participants what the Armenian people think, what the Armenian people think about the ambassadors, given the double standards they apply.
A discriminatory approach was also used against the media, they were not even allowed to enter the hotel building, they prevented the work of journalists, and later we learned that only loyal media, media funded by them, media funded by the West, or pro-government media were invited to the event.
This is the democracy of Nikol Pashinyan, this is the democracy that Mrs. Wiktorin [EU ambassador to Armenia – ed] imagines, the ambassador, who never misses an opportunity to bow her head to Nikol Pashinyan. I am commenting on a photo that periodically appears on the Internet after her meetings with Nikol Pashinyan. This is the democracy they imagine.
Our public saw two realities, our public saw two Armenias, our public saw the bastion of democracy that Nikol Pashinyan described, and saw the real picture that was on the other side of the doors of the hall where the conference was held, in conditions when opposition deputies were not allowed to enter to this hall,” the opposition MP noted.
By Taras Kuzio
The small number of 25,000 Armenians continuing to live in Karabakh are too small in number to require an autonomous republic. Meanwhile, keeping 2,000 Russian peacekeeping forces in place is a bad policy option as their primary goal will be to keep tensions simmering between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Without these tensions there would be no use for Russia’s so-called peacekeepers. Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in Moldova’s Transniestr and Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia for three decades and have never attempted to resolve these conflicts. This is because the Kremlin prefers to keep these conflicts frozen to provide continued justification for the presence of its so-called peacekeepers.
The creation of autonomous republics, territories and oblasts have never been a panacea for national minorities. In fact, the creation of autonomous regions, devolution of power and creation of regional parliaments has always increased the appetite of national minorities by encouraging them to become separatists.
Providing autonomy to the Catalans, Quebecois and Scottish did not end conflicts between them and central governments. It merely set the Catalans, Quebecois and Scots on a separatist road to breaking away from Spain, Canada, and the UK respectively.
The situation on the ground has fundamentally changed as a consequence of ethnic cleansing that took place in the First Karabakh War in 1988-1994. Then Armenian forces expelled nearly three quarter of a million Azerbaijani’s, three times more than the Armenians who were expelled from Azerbaijan. Irrespective of where blame lies, the resultant outcome was that Azerbaijan and Armenia are now to all intents and purposes mono-ethnic countries.
The absence of minority problems in both countries should make negotiating a post-conflict peace treaty easier and after it is signed, more durable. National minorities have always created difficulties for negotiators attempting to craft treaties that recognise borders and the territorial integrity of states.
The first is to accept there has not been a “Nagorno-Karabakh” for over three decades. The Soviet era Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was abolished as far back as November 1991.
The second factor is that it is wrong to call the region the “Republic of Artsakh” as this gives support to Armenian separatists who seek to break away from Azerbaijan and unite with Armenia. This would be the same as calling the Chechen region of Russia as the “Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.”
The third factor is Karabakh never had territorial links to Armenia and the goal of Armenian nationalists therefore during the First Karabakh War was to occupy all of the lands surrounding the NKAO. This led to Armenia occupying a fifth of Azerbaijani territory from 1994 until 2020. During the occupation, the Armenian authorities purposefully destroyed or looted practically every building, as is evident when one takes a tour, as I have, of the liberated areas. Worse still, the Armenian authorities did not encourage any economic development and foreign investment into these occupied territories or the settlement of the large territory it occupied by Armenians.
The final factor is the very small number of Armenians living in Karabakh should be not part of any negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on a post-conflict peace treaty. Armenians living in Karabakh should directly negotiate with the Azerbaijani authorities about receiving some form of self-governing status that would permit education, culture, media, and other areas to be delegated to their representatives. In the case of the Karabakh region, the new self-governing status should not include “autonomy” in its official title which would send a signal that the separatist question is dead and buried.
Negotiations will only be successful between the Armenian minority and Baku when the 10,000 Armenian forces are withdrawn from Karabakh. Their presence is illegal under article four of the 2020 ceasefire agreement which states: “The peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation is being deployed in parallel with the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces. The term of stay of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation is 5 years with automatic extension for the next 5-year periods, if none of the Parties declares 6 months before the expiration of the period of intention to terminate the application of this provision.”
These illegal Armenian forces are preventing negotiations from taking place that would give the Armenian minority some form of rights. Their withdrawal is not taking place because Armenian nationalists refuse to accept the new realities arising from their defeat in the Second Karabakh War and they continue to support the unification of Karabakh with Armenia; that is, they constitute a threat to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, the Kremlin is not implementing the ceasefire agreement knowing full well that Armenian forces remaining in Karabakh will prevent a post-conflict peace treaty being signed.
The small Armenian minority in Karabakh should negotiate with Baku the panoply of rights that they need to maintain their language, culture, and history. To achieve this they need to accept they will be living in Azerbaijan, support the withdrawal of illegal Armenian forces and union with Armenia will not happen.
Such a development would end the traumatic ethnic conflict that has plagued Armenia-Azerbaijani relations since the late 1980s. Armenians living in Azerbaijan would benefit from a post-conflict peace treaty that would bring economic development to their region and the entire South Caucasus.
*Taras Kuzio, Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and Professor of Political science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Author of the just published Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/20052022-why-karabakh-does-need-autonomous-status-in-azerbaijan-oped/
19:04,
YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. France does not rule out that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict may spread to neighboring countries, ARMENPRESS reports, citing TASS, President of France Emmanuel Macron said receiving the President of Moldova Maia Sandu at the Élysée Palace.
“The recent incidents in Transnistria show that the spread of the conflict to neighboring countries cannot be ruled out,” Macron said.
According to him, France intends to pay special attention to the regional security situation and any possible encroachment on Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“The conflict in Ukraine poses a threat to the entire region, including Moldova,” he said.
19:20,
YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani defense ministry again spreads misinformation, claiming in its message that on May 19, units of the Armenian Armed Forces fired at Azerbaijani positions located in the eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with different caliber firearms, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia.
“The situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is relatively stable, it is under the full control of the Armenian Armed Forces,” the statement reads.
19:47,
YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will pay a working visit to Brussels on May 22, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Offic ef the Prime MInsiter.
On the same day, the Prime Minister will have a private conversation with the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
The trilateral meeting of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is scheduled in Brussels.
19:52,
YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda arrived in Armenia on a two-day official visit with his wife Diana Nausėdienė.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Armenian President’s Office, the high-ranking guest was welcomed at the Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan by the Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan, Acting Chief of Staff of the President’s Office Khachatur Poghosyan and other officials.
20:41,
YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. The Russian peacekeeping contingent continues to fulfill its tasks in Nagorno-Karabakh, ARMENPRESS reports the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement.
Russian peacekeepers are monitoring the situation and the ceasefire around the clock at 27 checkpoints.
It is noted that no violations were registered in the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.
NATO brings 42,000 troops to a high level of combat readiness
21:50,
YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. NATO has brought to a high level of combat readiness 42 thousand servicemen, 120 aircrafts, ARMENPRESS reports, citing “RIA Novosti”, this was stated by the Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Joint Forces in Europe, US General Tod Wolters at a press conference in Brussels.
“Under my leadership, as Commander-in-Chief in Europe, we now have more than 42,000 servicemen and 120 aircraft in high combat readiness, and more than 20 ships are in combat readiness,” he said.
Walters stated that NATO intends to implement a comprehensive containment concept, including in the Baltics and the Black Sea region.