Category: News

Nikol Pashinyan’s message on the occasion of the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was the weakest April 24th message among the world leaders, which can only be compared with Erdogan’s message. About this 168TVof Revue he said on the air of the program Gevorg Ghukasyan, candidate of political sciences, responsible for the programs of the Central Office of the ARF Armenian Datspeaking about the statements made on April 24, both by the head of the Armenian government and by world leaders.

The person in charge of the Office of the Armenian Dat refers to Pashinyan in particular in the text to the controversial claim that according to the volume of Armenian history published by the NAS History Institute, “The Great Genocide is a consequence of the practice of involving the Armenian people in international intrigues”, and to the question of whether Nikol Pashinyan is actually trying to free Turkey from the responsibility of the Armenian Genocide with similar views.

The political scientist emphasizes that Nikol Pashinyan’s political intentions are so clear and obvious that there is no need to search in the footnotes for a long time. According to Gevorg Ghukasyan, only the Armenian authorities could think of reducing Turkish guilt in the Armenian Genocide.

“Well, even if the fact of the Armenian Genocide had an international, I wouldn’t say predisposition, but a favorable situation from the point of view of international relations: it was a war, it was a mess, in popular terms, a dog did not know its master, and the Turkish state committed genocide, how much does this reduce the share of Turkish guilt?

Now, probably Pashinyan wanted to say that some international actors directed this crime, which is absurd, but I am of the opinion that, yes, the created situation of international relations was somewhat favorable for Turkey to commit war crimes, but the degree of Turkey’s responsibility does not decrease from this, on the contrary, it increases, because even in the order established by the international law of that time, back in 1949. The Geneva Conventions did not exist, but even with the existing legal regulations, the Turkish side had an obligation to protect the civilian population.

The Turkish side not only failed in this, but also systematically organized and carried out the genocide of the entire people in the territory of its state, in the Armenian people’s own homeland. Reducing the Turkish guilt here could only occur in the minds of the Armenian authorities,” commented the representative of Hay Dat.

He recommends that before expressing such controversial thoughts about the Genocide, one should get acquainted with the documentary materials related to the great crime against the Armenians – American, German, Russian, Turkish, Armenian and other countries’ archives, testimonies, and ultimately with the “Black Book” or “Black Notebook” of one of the main organizers of the Armenian Genocide, Talaat, which is one of the most valuable evidences and testimonies of the genocide.

“Taleat’s book is finally there. Taleat’s book, the so-called “Black Book”, which was published – his diaries – is a terrible book, where you read how it is that in this month, for example, so many Armenians live in Trabzon, this month so many live, from which so many were evacuated, so many were killed, so many are children, etc. It is about all of Western Armenia. To stand up on this documentary material and make such statements? I say again

The issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide has never been an end in itself and should not be. It is not about punishing Turkey, it is not about hurting Turkey, it is not about devaluing Turkey in international relations. It is about the security of RA and the Armenian people. It is even, if you want to go further, about real Armenian-Turkish reconciliation.” says the interlocutor.

Gevorg Ghukasyan emphasizes that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was never an end in itself and should not be, and it primarily has a security significance for the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people, which was founded in a small part of the Armenian homeland after the Great Genocide. He also adds that the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide is not about punishing Turkey. Moreover, if we try to look further, it is about real Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, but first Turkey must stop the policy of denial, otherwise Turkey’s failure to give up denial means maintaining genocidal intent։

Ghukasyan claims: the Turkish genocidal threat to Armenians has not decreased։

“The international recognition of the genocide, retribution, demand in general – this struggle was never an end in itself and had different manifestations and goals. The most important of the goals is, perhaps, not to allow a new genocide, because if the genocidal party does not recognize its own guilt, then the probability of repeating the genocide is very high (this is a genocide-scientific approach), and not giving up denial on the part of Turkey means maintaining the genocidal intention, and the struggle for the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide should ultimately lead to the recognition of the genocide by Turkey, which in itself will have a security significance for the Republic of Armenia.

As a result of the events of recent years, we see that the Turkish genocidal threat to Armenians has not decreased, and we saw its implementation in Artsakh. “Erdogan has publicly accepted and admitted several times that the Turkish army was involved in military operations in Artsakh,” the interlocutor notes.

As for what happened in Artsakh in 2023, the representative of Hay Dat’s office gives an unequivocal assessment: it was, in fact, genocide, according to the UN Convention of 1948. of the provisions set forth in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

“The UN Convention presents 5 possible situations when the crime can be qualified as genocide. We see three out of five regarding Artsakh directly, we see one partially, and this set of actions is a crime on the part of Azerbaijan. It is a fact that what happened is genocide. Genocide is not only mass slaughter of people. “Genocide is displacement, making living conditions difficult for any group of people, subjecting them to psychological and physical torture, inhibiting childbirth or separating already born children from their families,” the political scientist explains.

Gevorg Ghukasyan draws a very clear conclusion from the above: all this indicates that the genocidal threat to Armenians remains, and from this point of view, the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, as the head of the programs of the Central Office of Armenian Dat adds, also had a security significance.

“Let me repeat: the cessation of denial can be considered a renunciation of genocidal intentions, that is, if Turkey stops denying the Armenian Genocide, we can accept it as a cessation of genocidal intent.” As long as this is not the case, the genocidal intention as such hangs over the heads of our people like a sword of Damocles,” added Gevorg Ghukasyan.

Referring to the fact that Pashinyan condemned the burning of the Turkish flag by young people in Yerevan on the day of the torchlight procession, April 23, but did not say any condemning words about the destruction of Armenian churches in Artsakh, Gevorg Ghukasyan said:

«By his political behavior, Nikol Pashinyan has long ago deprived himself of even the theoretical possibility of protecting Armenian interests. That person, even if he wants to, can no longer protect Armenian interests, and this statement should also be viewed in this light, that it is essentially a shame when Armenian cultural heritage disappears in Artsakh, the world’s leading news media, various international organizations speak about it, but RA is silent»։

In this context, Gevorg Ghukasyan refers to the assertion of the Armenian authorities that peace has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan, or when Nikol Pashinyan says in the same message that we have not only a state, but also peace. Gevorg Ghukasyan, as a specialist, does not see the legal act that this peace was established.

“I, as a specialist, do not see the legal act that this peace was established. Now, maybe our opponents will say, the August 8 agreement, but the August 8 agreement is only initialized, and if we look, for example, at the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Force of International Treaties. convention, then we see that the initialization there does not mean the full implementation of the contract or agreement and its mandatory legally enforceable nature.

In other words, we do not have a peace treaty in this case from a legal point of view. Moreover, not only do we not have the so-called peace treaty, but we also have the Azerbaijani demand that “if you do not change your Constitution, that treaty will not be signed.” And in addition, more than 250 square kilometers of RA is occupied by the Azerbaijani armed forces,” commented the political scientist.

Ghukasyan emphasizes: we have a village in Syunik, Nerkin Hand, whose life is directly paralyzed due to the Azerbaijani occupation, we have prisoners in Baku, Armenian cultural heritage is being destroyed in Artsakh, the top leadership of Azerbaijan continues the same militant rhetoric, full state support is provided in Baku to the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” political concept, and under these conditions, talking about peace, blunting the self-defense instincts of the Armenian society and the state it is difficult to characterize the current policy of misdirection without emotionalism.

“For the sake of internal political calculations, the state and the resistance of the state cannot be weakened so much. The peace agenda is entirely an internal political calculation. There is no peace in the classical understanding of the word,” the interlocutor adds.

Full interview in the video.

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168TVof “Trigger” the guest of the program political scientist, head of Yerevan Institute of Network Research Gagik Harutyunyan is:

During the meeting, the conflict between Iran and the USA, the “Great Turan” concept and its possible consequences in the South Caucasus, the destruction of the Armenian cathedral in Nagorno Karabakh, Russia’s war against Ukraine and the EU, as well as the “hybrid genocide” in Armenia were discussed.

Hayk Derzyan

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In the “Pressing” program Satik Seyranyan the guest American-Armenian conflict expert, specialist in international conflict resolution and negotiations (Conflict Resolution, International Law, Mediation), Doctor of Law Hrayr Balyan.

Hrayr Balyan was one of the authors of the speeches of the 39th President of the USA, Jimmy Carter, he was in 2008-2022. was the director of The Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program.  He worked for the United Nations, OSCE/ODIHR and a number of prestigious non-governmental organizations and held leadership positions at the “Covcas Center for Law and Conflict Resolution” in Geneva, the International Crisis Group in Sarajevo and other institutions. In addition to his fieldwork, Hrayr Balyan practiced law in the United States and presented the details of his experience through lectures at a number of universities and academic institutions around the world. Currently, his subjects of study are the South Caucasus and the Levant.

Why is Nikol Pashinyan threatening the people, blackmailing them, threatening with war, even setting a deadline: if he is not re-elected, there will be a war in September, and now his teammates are saying that if there is no Nikol Pashinyan, there will be no Armenia.

The main theses of the interview are below.

• If we take an example from the already former prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, who also told his people that if he is not elected, a war with Ukraine will start, we will see a different example. In Hungary, the people did not believe his words and voted for the collective opposition.

• War and peace do not depend on one person. They depend on various factors: Armenia’s defensiveness, Azerbaijan’s internal situation, the international situation… Pashinyan’s blackmail is only aimed at dividing and scaring the people. 

• I cannot say what is in his (Pashinyan’s, editor’s) mind, or whether he has an agreement with Azerbaijan or not, to specify the dates for the start of the war.

It is not right to go to the elections with threats of war. I can’t and I don’t want to guess what is in the mind of the prime minister, who is talking about a possible war if he is not elected.

• The peace agreement is only initialed, has no legal force and has many gaps. If it is signed in this form, it is a problem. In that document, there is no mention of the 19 hostages held in Baku, there is no mention of the occupied territories of Armenia. There are also other issues that do not exist in that initialed document.

• Azerbaijan not only makes demands before us, but also takes hostile steps towards us. The last one was the destruction of Stepanakert Cathedral by Azerbaijanis. Bad messages are coming from Baku։

• A peace treaty can be signed between two parties on a piece of paper, but in order to establish peace between peoples with that piece of paper, the issues between the two peoples must be resolved. Until these issues are resolved, there can be no peace. Peace established on paper is very easy to disrupt. As long as Armenian hatred does not retreat in Azerbaijan, there can be no peace։

• Today, the Azerbaijani army controls Artsakh and 7 regions around Artsakh. How many Azerbaijanis returned there?․․․ A few hundred?․․․ I consider the talk of 300,000 Azerbaijanis returning to Armenia to be absurd if they do not go to live in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan.։

To remind: Ilham Aliyev in 2025 on December 18 had announced, that 300,000 Azerbaijanis have appealed to the RA government to create conditions for their return, adding that they are still waiting for the RA authorities’ answer on that issue.

• Azerbaijan demands to change the Constitution of Armenia, Armenia does not present a similar demand, and in general the parties are in unequal conditions. The demands presented by Azerbaijan are opposed to the spirit of the peace treaty. Azerbaijan has already violated many points of the initial document. In this case, Armenia should also present demands: withdraw its troops from the occupied territories of Armenia, stop destroying the historical and cultural monuments of Artsakh, and stop the speech of Armenian hatred.

• Aliyev is keeping 19 hostages to humiliate us, to throw our dignity into the mud. Armenia’s concessions must end. Armenia should demand the return of the hostages։

• I saw the picture of Khor Virap in the new passports from the opposite side, so that Ararat cannot be seen… I think the next step should be to draw a curtain on the border so that Armenians cannot see Ararat։

• The change of the negotiator depends on the people’s vote. We will see how the people will vote on June 7.

• Today we are at a turning point in history when international and even local rights are being ignored by the superpowers and their allies. Even America advocates the use of force, ignoring international law. The war against Iran is a vivid example of this. Turkey is doing the same thing against the minorities inside its country, particularly the Kurds. Israel does the same. In all parts of the world, power decides. This started 10-15 years ago and is getting worse. I cannot say when we will return to the field of law. Against the power of others, we must oppose our power, not relying only on the right.

• Artsakh page cannot be closed. Only the displaced people of Artsakh can close that page, and they have no such intention. The people of Artsakh have the right to return, the right to own their property, and it is Armenia’s duty and obligation to help the people of Artsakh in this matter.։

• The Meghri issue was raised by Heydar Aliyev in the negotiations, when starting in 1999․–from to Key West, was negotiating with Robert Kocharyan. Aliyev proposed to replace Meghri with Karabakh and Lachin Corridor. The government of Armenia offered only to give Azerbaijan a way through the sovereign territory of Armenia. Let the Armenian government publish a document that a document has been negotiated to replace Meghri. there is no such thing, if there was, they would have published it։

• The offer to provide territory to Azerbaijan in Meghri came from the President of Turkey. Paul Goble took this and presented it as a program, which was brought into the middle in 1999․ during negotiations and in 2001․ During the negotiations of Ki Wiest.

• TRIPP is not Goble’s plan, it is different. The TRIPP document has many flaws, and we still do not know what benefits and harms it will bring us, until the details are negotiated, and we are not aware of it. As they say, the devil is in the details. I don’t want to praise Trump, but with TRIPP at least the war against Armenia was postponed.

• Armenia needs the USA to the extent that it has more than one million Armenian votes in America as voters.

• TRIPP is part of the Middle Corridor, and thus it is important for the countries of the region, including Iran, as well as for the USA and Europe.

• Next week, on May 4-5, the heads of countries participating in the European summit will be in Yerevan. This is a demonstration of support for Nikol Pashinyan. This summit cannot have any other advantage for Armenia. During those two days, Armenia will be in the center of international news, and both the government and the opposition should understand how to benefit from it. Can the opposition organize such demonstrations that the European leaders know that we have hostages in Baku, and until they are repatriated, there will be no peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan? Leaders of European countries should know and be ashamed, raise the issue before Baku։

• I will not be surprised that after the European summit, the pressure against the opposition will intensify in order to ensure the reproduction of Pashinyan.

• If one day negotiations on the return of Artsakh residents begin, the OSCE Minsk Group negotiation documents will be useless if there is not enough political will to use them.

• The pogroms of Sumgait, Baku, the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh are criminal crimes that have no statute of limitations. These claims have been presented, these claims are being examined in international courts, but the issues of withdrawing the claims are raised in the signed peace agreement, which is wrong. In that way, we will once again choose the path of force over international law։

• In one way or another, the leadership of Armenia tries to deny the Genocide, even blames the Armenian people for it, but the April 23 rally and the April 24 march to the Genocide memorial showed what the people’s opinion is about it.։

• Although it has suffered a lot of damage, Iran has emerged victorious from this war at this moment. Neither Israel nor the US achieved their goals․ Iranian statehood did not collapse. No matter how much the USA declares, the regime has not changed in Iran. On the contrary, more radical people have come to power in Iran. In today’s conditions The logic of TRIPP can be completely changed. 

• Armenia’s EU membership does not depend only on Armenia, but mostly on Europe. Until Europe resolves the issue of Ukraine, it has neither the time nor the desire to deal with Armenia.

• There was a very heavy atmosphere at the Putin-Pashinyan meeting, threat after threat sounded. Putin threatened Pashinyan with Armenia’s economic hardship. We should carefully approach issues with Russia. Armenia may find itself in a difficult economic situation if it is not prudent.