For the development of relations between Russia and Armenia, a constructive leadership in Yerevan is needed. The choice of the path is up to the people of Armenia. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said in a conversation with RIA Novosti.

Medvedev stated that the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has chosen the path of severing relations with Russia, which will harm the entire Armenian nation and the country’s economy.

“We are ready to continue developing effective, mutually beneficial cooperation and equal cooperation with Armenia and its people. But in order for this to happen, our ally must have a constructive leadership that is ready to be friends with Russia,” said the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia.

According to him, as a result of Pashinyan’s dangerous path, the people of Armenia will lose the Russian market and the entire Eurasian Economic Union.

“It seems that he considers us fools. At the same time, he made a big mistake in his calculations and is following a path that is extremely dangerous for his country,” Medvedev said.

He reminded that Pashinyan’s policy may lead to Yerevan having to buy Russian gas at European prices, which are three times more expensive than the current price. The vice president of the Security Council suggested to the Prime Minister of Armenia to ask the citizens if they are ready for such a price.

“Armenia is historically a very close country for us, our strategic partner. I emphasize: the fraternal people of Armenia, not any Armenian leader,” he said, answering the question whether Russia has changed its attitude towards Armenia as a partner.

Medvedev added that during his first conversation with Pashinyan, he raised the topic of special relations between Russia and the Armenian people.

“When we first met, he said: “You will never accept me. I am a stranger to you,” Medvedev recalled.

The vice-chairman of the Security Council added that at that moment he assured the head of the Armenian government that “there are no friends or enemies” for Moscow. At that time, Medvedev reminded Pashinyan that “more Armenians live in Russia than in Armenia itself.”

At the same time, the vice president of the Security Council noted that the conversation did not have any impact on the Prime Minister of Armenia. “He did not pay attention to these words and did not appreciate the many examples of brotherly help and support from Russia.”

Moreover, Medvedev emphasized that Pashinyan is not a “guarantor of peace” for Armenia, but simply “a scoundrel who has been elevated to power for some time.”

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Kaj Nazar is elected king by the people, he does not become king himself. Ruben Vardanyan announced from Baku prison during a telephone conversation with his family

May 25 is Ruben Vardanyan’s birthday. This is already the third birthday that he spends under illegal detention in Baku.

On his birthday, he addressed the Armenian people in Armenian.

In the statement, Ruben Vardanyan also refers to the military parade scheduled for May 28. He considers that holding a military parade in today’s situation is immoral, because Armenian soldiers and officers are in Azeri prisons, do not have normal contact with their relatives, do not feel in any way that there is a state behind them.

At the end of the statement, Ruben Vardanyan talks about serving and mentions the concept of “Dasa” (Sanskrit: dāsa): “servant”, “faithful”, “a person who has dedicated himself to service”. This is the name of one of the spiritual characters of the main character in Hermann Hesse’s book “The Game of Spinners”, which passes from illusion to service.

The transcript of the statement is presented below.

“Dear compatriots,

Although it is difficult for me, I want to send a message in Armenian, because I consider it very important. I want to convey 5 thoughts to you from here, hoping that you will understand me correctly.

First of all, I want to remind again that Kaj Nazar is elected king by the people, he does not become king. I want to remind everyone so that we don’t forget about this.

Secondly, dear Kaj Nazar Nikol, you were not lucky three times. First, I have loved to read since I was a child, and Erich Maria Remarque was one of my favorite writers when I was young. Secondly, while I was alone in the detention cell for 800 days, I read a lot of books and tried to preserve my Armenian, and I tried to find books by Armenian writers in the library. Unfortunately, there were only two books in Armenian in the library: one by {Vardges} Petrosyan, the other by Dzerzh. It was very surprising for me, I did not know that you are such a famous writer. And after reading your book, I became convinced that you not only have serious problems in terms of your moral behavior, education, and other problems, that you are a liar, an inventor, etc., you are also a plagiarist. And let me tell you that it surprised me a lot because, being a journalist, you know that theft, {intellectual} property, books cannot be stolen, but you did it very calmly, and not from one, but from several writers. And your shortcomings, of course, your mistakes, your behavior makes me very sad. And I am sadly afraid that what you are doing is a great punishment for you, and you know, in India, when a person dies, they believe that he is reborn into other people or animals, and the greatest punishment is that after committing many sins, the dead person is reborn into an earthworm and lives as an earthworm for 84,000 years. I am afraid that this punishment awaits you, I hope that there is still time for it not to happen, but I have doubts that it is already too late.

Thirdly, I want to say that we all must understand that there is a big challenge before us. this is not a question of elections, this is a question that the war is not over, the war continues, and the war continues not militarily, but in other ways. And now, when they are trying to fight us in Russia and the European Union, the most dangerous thing is that in the end we will fall under the power of the third power, and that third power is sitting and waiting to see how we will become dependent on it, economically, materially, informationally, technologically, and with everything. And if someone doesn’t understand that, I want to say that we all must understand that if we do nothing, it will happen very quickly, and this is a very big danger, that if we don’t change our behavior, neither Russia nor the European Union awaits us, we become a province of Turkey.

Fourth, they are discussing here that a military parade is being prepared on May 28. It seems to me that it is unbecoming, when at the same time soldiers and officers are prisoners and are in the prison of Azerbaijan. I want to remind you again that the army is not built by parades, money and weapons or ranks, but most importantly by spirit, moral and patriotic spirit, and I call on everyone who is truly Armenian-loving not to participate in that parade, because it is immoral in this situation, when our officers and soldiers are here, you should do a parade. It doesn’t leave me alone, because I consider it immoral that our boys have been here for 6 years, they don’t have the opportunity to receive photos, letters, clothes from their relatives. Another issue is that it is not organized by Armenia in any way, the commander-in-chief, who was defeated, does nothing to make those people at least feel that the state stands behind them.

Fifth, remember that the greatest danger is indifference, indifference is more dangerous than all other defects. The opposite of love is not hatred, it is indifference, the opposite of goodness is not evil, it is indifference, the opposite of faith is not rejection of God, it is indifference, and the opposite of life is not death, it is indifference. And in order for us to have our state, to be proud of being a citizen of that state, no one owes us anything, we must not be indifferent, and we must do everything to preserve our state, we must all understand in our place that no one, one person alone can change the situation, we all must do everything together to preserve our country, so that we have an independent state. And finally, I want to say that it is happiness for me to volunteer and be grateful to God, to love everyone and everything, and to overcome temptations, to learn every second until the last breath of my life, and to give all that I know, that I can do to the world, repaying my endless debt to God for my happiness. And I am happy that I can do all that until the last breath of my life.

I am a humble servant of God, “dasa” Ruben (दास-दास (dāsa), son of Karlen and Irina, a Russian-minded Armenian, a member of the Association of Interpreters of Meanings, a person who is happy that there is an opportunity for him to dedicate his life to his homeland and the world, to serve everyone with love and faith. And I want all of us to understand that our future is in our hands, not in someone else’s hands, and I am sure that we can do anything.

—

Responding to Prime Minister Pashinyan’s statement about the nationalization of Araratcement factory owned by him, PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan said that he will not be intimidated by it.

“They told me: ‘Mr. Tsarukyan, you are starting to criticize rightly, you don’t find your place, they will damage your property, they have already received an assignment. I said that I cannot change my homeland with my property, that is, today the factory that was privatized 20 years ago says that I will take it from Tsarukyan and give it to the people. it’s the people, they work, we pay the taxes, what we took, one more thing they developed stone by stone. They want to scare Tsarukyan with that. On the contrary, I will say what I have,” said Tsarukyan, campaigner in Syunik.

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Artak Zakaryan writes on his Facebook page. “Go to the election without hesitation. It is up to you to have a state or not.

2018 In the extraordinary elections of December 9, “My step” bloc received about 885,000 votes. It was 34% of citizens with voting rights. Around 52% of voters did not participate in the election.

2021 In the extraordinary elections of June 20, the CP led by Pashinyan received about 688,000 votes or 27% of citizens with electoral rights. About 50% of voters did not participate in the election.

Most likely, in the elections of June 7, 2026, in 2021 in comparison, CP will get significantly less votes. And for his complete defeat and immediate dismissal, the active participation of all voters is important.

If the turnout was high in 2018 and 2021, the CP would have received low percentages and would not have had the opportunity to conspire to hand over Artsakh and put Armenia in serious danger.

Dear citizen with the right to vote,

Consider that each of you will make a fateful decision. Not going to the elections is also a decision, but to the detriment of Armenia. You don’t have to blame the KP voters or the rulers who are destroying the country, if you won’t go to the polls yourself.

You just have to go and vote against the reintroduction of the incumbents.”

—

It became known in mid-May՝ Իրանը վերահսկողության տակ է վերցնում part of the worldwide internetthreatening to destroy it otherwise. Tehran could damage the underwater cables that carry the Internet between Europe and Asiathe traffic, if other states refuse to pay for their use planned fees: CNN reports՝ Iranian authorities have also announced that they are planning to charge fees for the use of underwater Internet cables that pass through the Strait of Hormuz between Europe, Asia and the Persian Gulf.

The Iranians intend to demand payments from the largest IT companies on the planet, which work through these cables. Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other tech giants could fall under the demands։ In relation to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian media have already hinted transparently that if they do not pay, the traffic may be disrupted.

The cables are laid across the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz, part of which is controlled by Tehran. CNN notes՝ their even partial damage can affect banking operations, exchanges, cloud services and artificial intelligence infrastructure across the planet, causing major disruptions to the global web, from online services, banks and exchanges to streaming platforms.

So, in fact, after the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is going to take control of the cables already laid under that waterway. In addition, a license fee will be set for laying new communication lines, and only Iranian companies will be able to deal with their maintenance. “We will charge a fee for Internet cables,” reports in the media confirmed Ibrahim Zolfaghari, a representative of the Iranian army.

Iranians and their affiliated structures have already participated in damaging cables in the region. For example, in the spring of 2024, the Sheba Intelligence analytical platform with reference to classified documents reported՝ The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Unit 313 and the Ansar Allah cyber unit of the Yemeni Houthi organization carried out two special operations (in February and March 2024) targeting submarine cables passing through the Red Sea. According to Sky News, this affected 25% of traffic across the Red Sea, on lines carrying data to Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Four of the 15 submarine cables were seriously damaged (including Asia-Africa-Europe 1, Europe-India Gateway, Seacom and TGN-Gulf, according to Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications).

Today, due to the aggression carried out by Epstein’s coalition against Iran, a similar Internet strike can turn from regional to global. Underwater as of the early 2020s there was more than 530 operating and running Internet cables with a total length of more than one million kilometers. The main highways run between the east coast of North America and European countries. Cables from Europe go to African, Middle Eastern countries and India. And from the west coast of North America, the cables stretch to Japan, Southeast Asian countries and Australia.

Individual cables vary greatly in length. For example, the Circe South cable stretching from Great Britain to France is only 115 km long, while the Pacific Crossing-1 cable connecting the USA and Japan is up to 21,000 km long. In general, the length of the cable depends on the distance required for the connection. Many countries and companies go beyond a single cable and, if necessary, install additional cables (usually at considerable distances from each other). If one cable fails, the signal is rerouted through the backup cables.

Today, submarine cables make the world what it is. However, their vulnerability stems from their very structure and installation problems, or rather, from the lack of cable vessels. All these cables are very thin. In addition, they can have different structures, components, as well as materials from which they are made. Cutting or damaging the cable is quite easy. the diameter of a part of the structure lowered into the depth is only up to 6 centimeters.

In the spring of 2025, China introduced to the world a special compact deep-sea device designed to cut cables, which can damage even the world’s most protected underwater communication and power lines.: This tool is capable of cutting lines at depths of up to 4,000 meters, which is double the maximum operating range of existing underwater communications infrastructure, and is specially designed to integrate with China’s advanced manned and unmanned underwater vehicles such as Fendouzhe (Striver) and Haidou.

It was developed by the state by CSSRC Institute. Officially, it was intended for rescue operations and resource extraction, but experts quickly remembered the underwater Internet cables connecting continents, for example, between the United States and Asia. Or near Guam, where one of the busiest routes passes: The device is already being integrated with submarines like the Fengdou Zhe and the Haido series of drones. In other words, technically these devices can now be used to shut down the internet for an entire region at any time.

Currently, depending on the route, cables can be laid up to 8 kilometers deep, twice as deep as the cables normally used by the equipment described above. However, not everyone can work that deep, and such depths are not always possible. Considerable preparations are made before the actual installation. A thorough study of the route is needed to ensure it is safe and cost-effective.

The laying of the cables is carried out by special cable-carrying vessels, which are made to special order. They have a remarkable feature. on the decks and in the hold they have one or more huge drums (anvils) on which the cable is loaded. Depending on the type of ship, it can accommodate up to several thousand kilometers of cable. The cable is released by means of a special system of cable machines working with an electric cable, which resembles a winch (hoist). At the same time, there are only a little more than 60 cable-laying vessels in the world, and the work schedule of each of them is planned several years in advance.

Another problem with submarine cables is that international infrastructure law is underdeveloped and somewhat outdated. Both the US and China have tried to fill the gaps with their own regulations. However, the efforts of both were not enough. Although for different reasons.

American legislation is very old. The most recent piece of US legislation dealing with submarine cables is the Submarine Cable Act of 1888. Cable damage entails a $5,000 fine and up to 2 years in prison. By comparison, negligence in dropping anchor or using fishing nets carries a mere $500 fine and three months in jail. These are extremely weak deterrents for operations with recovery costs of up to $3 million.

China, for its part, insists that the delineation of cable laying routes on the continental shelf is under the jurisdiction of the state that owns it. In practice, this involves notifying the state’s maritime administration and obtaining written permission from the country’s navy, which sometimes results in rerouting. Only then can the operator request permission to bring the cable out into the state. After that, he must constantly and fully inform the authorities about his activities.

All this greatly contributes to the plans of the Iranian authorities to take under their control a part of the global Internet passing under the Strait of Hormuz.

Oleg Sarov

fondsk.ru

Translation by Zhanna Avetisyan

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s official visit to Yerevan scheduled for tomorrow is outside the scope of the usual diplomatic protocol and has a pronounced domestic political tone.

On the eve of the decisive parliamentary elections to be held in Armenia on June 7, the appearance of a high-ranking Washington official in the Armenian capital is a direct signal that the United States is trying to influence internal political processes with its political weight and, based on its own interests, to keep the power in Armenia under control. Although the main agenda will probably revolve around the TRIPP project. Visits of this level during the hot pre-election campaign document the desire of foreign forces to guide Armenia’s sovereign election, which Washington uses to make Yerevan’s geopolitical orbit irreversible.

This is not new, but a continuation of the consistent strategy implemented by the American side. back in February of the current year, the visit of the US Vice President JD Vance to Yerevan laid the foundations for this trend. At that time, Vance, speaking about regional projects and the June 7 elections, made an unprecedentedly direct and directional statement for Western diplomacy, stating:

“The question is how to make the peace deal successfully move to the next stage, how to make the prime minister be able to focus on the future.

I know the election is coming up, I don’t want to talk about it, but if my support means anything, he certainly has it. He is a person who can build a long-term partnership to make such projects come to fruition.”

Such a position of the American side clearly shows that the White House considers Pashinyan’s re-election not a free expression of the will of the Armenian people, but a necessary prerequisite for the success of its own strategic and transit programs in the region.

In addition to the American vector, in the past weeks, Yerevan has also turned into a center of European diplomatic activity, which also confirms the foreign bet placed on the current government. With the 8th European Political Community (EPC) summit held in Armenia at the beginning of May and the inaugural RA-EU bilateral summit with the participation of European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Brussels tried to strengthen Pashinyan’s position in the domestic political and electoral processes. These measures served as political support for the current administration during the pre-election period, where Europe’s promises of economic and energy “aid” are actually intended to accelerate Armenia’s disengagement from Russia, without considering its dire economic consequences.

Along with such active participation of the West, extremely worrying and unprecedented degradation trends are being recorded in Armenian-Russian relations. Moscow no longer hides its strong opposition to Yerevan’s foreign policy turn and Western orientation, which is manifested in tough rhetoric at the highest level. The last statement of the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, where he calls Pashinyan a “scoundrel”, condenses the Kremlin’s response to the developments. Medvedev noted that “as a result of Pashinyan’s dangerous path, the people of Armenia will lose the Russian market and the entire Eurasian Economic Union.”

“It seems that he considers us fools. At the same time, he made a big mistake in his calculations and is pursuing a path that is extremely dangerous for his country,” Medvedev said.

This wording shows that Russia views official Yerevan’s steps as a treacherous turn and is ready to use its own countermeasures to abort Western projects. The current Armenian pre-election campaign has turned into a process accompanied by active, undisguised interference and geopolitical influence. Armenia has appeared in the center of a classic “proxy-political” struggle, where internal elections lose their sovereign content and serve as a platform for global conflicts between the West and Russia. On the one hand, the USA and the EU, through high-ranking visits and political pressure, are trying to support the re-election of Pashinyan’s regime at all costs, on the other hand, Russia, with tough rhetoric and the use of economic and political leverage, shows that it will not allow the country’s final transition to the opposite camp.

In the light of all this, it can be expected that by June 7, the attempts of external influence will reach their peak, where the voter is offered the dilemma “West or Russia”, undermining internal stability, while the Armenian voter must choose a political force, taking into account many other realities.

The June 7 elections for Armenia cease to be a mere internal political event, turning into a decisive conflict of global forces over the country’s geopolitical vector. While the West is trying to strengthen the positions of the current administration with high-level visits and economic promises, and Russia is trying to prevent the loss of influence with harsh warnings and leveraging, the only guarantee of future stability is to make choices based on one’s own sovereign interests and free from external coercion.

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Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the “Strong Armenia” party, congratulated Ruben Vardanyan on his birthday.

“Dear Ruben,

It’s been the third year that your family, your relatives and friends have not been able to personally congratulate you on your birthday, shake your hand. However, physical distance and the walls of Baku prison cannot separate you from your relatives and your people. your presence and deeds are in the everyday life of our homeland, our people.

True patriotism is not just words, but taking responsibility for the well-being and security of one’s own people. You showed with your life and choice what it means to be a true patriot, ready for the greatest deprivations.

I wish you endurance, good health and courage of soul. The return of you and our other friends is a matter of honor for all of us.”

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168TVof “Trigger” the guest of the program Karen Igityan is a Caucasian scholar:

During the program, the prospects of the opening of the Armenia-Georgia-Turkey-EU railway route and the possible export of Armenian products to Europe were discussed, the visit of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Armenia and the development of Yerevan’s relations with Washington, the intention of the Armenian authorities to restore railway communication in the direction of Turkey and Azerbaijan by their own forces, the negotiations between the US and Iran against the background of the statements of President Donald Trump, the increase in tension in the rhetoric between Moscow and Yerevan, as well as the sale of some of the Armenian alcohol products in Russia. The limitations and possible economic consequences of “Rospotrebnadzor”, comparisons with Ukraine.

The elections to be held in Armenia on June 7 were also discussed.

Hayk Derzyan

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Since May 22, Russia has limited the import of flowers from Armenia, according to the statement of “Rosselkhoznadzor”, the purpose of the decision is to ensure the protection of a healthy phytosanitary environment.
“Despite the guarantees provided by the RA Ministry of Education, quarantine plants for the Ministry of Agriculture continue to be found. During the importation of 96.2 million flowers and plants, 135 such cases were recorded, which is 77 percent of the total cases detected in the entire year 2025,” noted “Rosselkhoznadzor”.

Today 168.am He was in Armavir region, he talked Florist Artak Tovmasyan from Zvartnots who has been facing the same problem for a year and cannot export the flowers he produces to Russia or sell them in the domestic market.

“This problem is not new, exactly one year ago this problem arose when “Rosselkhoznadzor” presented demands that Armenian flowers are not imported to Russia, but are also brought from other countries and exported to Russia. I don’t know how true this is, but the villagers suffer as a result of all this.

In other words, a year ago they should have come and inspected the greenhouses, given a license, taken the addresses from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, I didn’t give mine, I said: you will come to me at the very end. Whoever gave an address, they did not go to anyone, they only went to the big greenhouse owners. But the flower cultivated by the peasant is in no way inferior to the flowers imported from Ecuador and Europe.

The reason for all this is political, if they didn’t come, they didn’t check the quality of these flowers, they didn’t tell me that there is a flower, but they tell me: don’t export, what is this? I exported for 12 years, there was no problem, but now there is a problem, isn’t this political? When the question was raised here: EATM or EU, “Rosselkhoznadzor” told me: “Very well, open your greenhouses, we are coming to check, to see if you are co-responsible for our market”, Artak Tovmasyan mentioned.

As for Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan’s statement that “regularly they receive information that certain internal forces of RA are inciting the Armenian producer to face a problem”, Artak Tovmasyan noted that we can convey to Gevorg Papoyan that we have found these “internal forces”.

“What is the “inner strength”? Tell me, we have found it. It is me with my flowers. I am a flower producer and have been exporting for 12 years. It is not in my favor, but I must say that for 12 years, when I sent my flower to Russia, I was convinced that there might be a prohibited pest on my flower, but people turned a blind eye. And when they decided here that flowers should not enter the Russian market, then this problem arose, what “internal forces” are we talking about? Let Gevorg Papoyan come, let us go around together, let him see what problems we have.

We cannot export our flowers to the European market, because there the requirements are stricter.

In the past, greenhouse owners were considered rich people in rural communities because people made money, but now they have become more vulnerable. We haven’t been able to export flowers for so long, whoever had the money made an investment, but they can’t sell what they produce. Because of this problem, I no longer have a good credit history, I have pawned the last gold, after 1-2 months I will not be able to pay the interest on the gold. This is called bankruptcy, a person becomes bankrupt of his mind, it also happens when we have Gevorgpapoyans and SATM. They want to do an election campaign, let them go to the flower market in the evening, they will hear a lot of new things about them. The season of apricots and grapes is approaching, what will the villagers do? It’s been 3 days, this problem exists, no one says anything, they only say: “internal forces are inciting”, yes, the internal force is me, I am the instigator,” added our interlocutor.

According to his observation, the government should not help the greenhouse owners, it should not interfere with its behavior and foreign policy.

In 2025, the florist suffered a loss of 40 million drams, and this year and in this period he has already suffered a loss of 15 million drams, invested 50 million on the greenhouse, and 13 million on flowers.

“In my greenhouse, 8 workers worked for 8 thousand drams a day, but now I have no workers, 8 people are already unemployed in my greenhouse alone, pesticide sellers are also suffering, starting with the producer and seller of this thread, they are suffering because we do not export flowers.

We will rebel, many greenhouse owners allow you to take pictures of their greenhouse, but avoid talking. In general, give Gevorg Papoyan a bus in Yerevan, let him drive, he is a person far removed from economics, he does not know what is happening in his country. Now that Gevorg Papoyan says to develop intensive horticulture, to demolish this greenhouse, to establish an apricot orchard, and “Rosselkhoznadzor” discovers such a problem again, what am I going to do?

I have supported Nikol Pashinyan since 2008, we wanted changes. We rejected Serzh so that we could live better, but we rejected him and now we live worse.

I earned all the money to establish this greenhouse in Russia, I brought it here to live and work in my country. Now we are in a worse condition and neglected than under all other leaders,” the flower grower said.

The situation is the same in other villages of Armavir region, where florists simply take the flowers out of the greenhouse in the form of garbage and throw them away. In Aghavnatun village, thousands of flowers were filled in front of almost all the greenhouses, some of them were taken to the landfill by trucks.

Details in the video of 168.am

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“West Azerbaijan” is an anti-Armenian program that shows the pace of concession no gives Geghamyan

 

The artificial concept of “West Azerbaijan” is part of the official state program of Azerbaijan. In Azerbaijan, it is understood as a program that includes almost the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia. He said this during the expert panel discussion entitled “Primary Armenia in Turkish-Azerbaijani programs”. Turkic scholar Varuzhan Geghamyannoting that this marginal term, familiar only to orientalists, has turned into one of the most discussed issues on the public agenda in the last 5 years.

“This approach with pan-Turkish roots, the first practical manifestations of which could be seen in 1918-1921, has always been present in the political discourse of post-Soviet Azerbaijan. For the first time, Heydar Aliyev started talking about “Western Azerbaijan” at the state level, from whom all this, like everything else, was transferred to his son, Ilham Aliyev, but with a few features.

One of those features is that, unlike the time of his father, Ilham Aliyev, it is not only about the fact that “Western Azerbaijan” is a historical heritage, a historical memory that should be known, talked about and sometimes dreamed about, but already in Ilham’s time, even before the April war, we are witnessing how they start talking about “Western Azerbaijan” being a strategic goal and policy. This is a direct quote from Ilham Aliyev’s speech,” commented the Turkologist.

According to the Turkic expert, after the war of 2020, a reality was created in the South Caucasus, which, although it is interpreted as an “era of peace” in Armenia, it is interpreted in a completely different way in Azerbaijan, and most of the conversations there are anti-Armenian. According to him, after the 2020 war, Azerbaijan, which positioned itself on international platforms as “the world’s main defender of the principle of territorial integrity”, stopped talking about territorial integrity, but mainly talks about historical-geographical revisionism, so to speak, declaring that today’s borders of Azerbaijan do not fully reflect “real Azerbaijan”.

“I have listed the main directions of the anti-Armenian policy, which can be easily found with a Google search, starting with the ongoing blockade and economic pressure on the Republic of Armenia, ending with the internationalization of ambitions for the territory of the Republic of Armenia. All these can be easily found. However, among these demands, the directions of anti-Armenian policy, one stands out, which, in my opinion, essentially includes all the other demands, and it can be said that it is the main tool of the pressure currently carried out by Azerbaijan against Armenia and Armenians. We are talking about the promotion of the dimensionalist concept of “Western Azerbaijan” or “Western Zangezur”, which is also a component of the so-called “Zangezur Corridor”.

According to Varuzhan Geghamyan, historical revisionism has become one of the main state ideologies in Azerbaijan after 2020. The main coordinator is the staff of the President of Azerbaijan, whose “outsourcing”, so to speak, is done by the organization called “Western Azerbaijan Community”.

“Also, we have leaked documents that prove that it is fully financed by the office of the President of Azerbaijan. In the true sense of the word, dollar after dollar is being spent to advance this project both in Azerbaijan and outside of Azerbaijan,” the Turkologist added.

According to the Turkic expert, the artificial concept of “Western Azerbaijan” has the meaning of both internal and external consumption. “Some political forces in Armenia present the situation in such a way that this is just propaganda for internal consumption, and they put a sign of equality with the idea of ​​Western Armenia, which is completely wrong not only from the point of view of science, but also from the point of view of logic, but moreover, it should be understood that when we approach the topic of “Western Azerbaijan” exclusively as a phenomenon of internal consumption, we do not see all the possible threats arising from it and the various programs implemented within it.”

Secondly, according to the specialist, the intensification of the institutionalization and publicization of the “Western Azerbaijan” concept began after 2020, and this approach does not correspond to the “era of peace” in any way.

“The concept of “Western Azerbaijan” implies a multi-component program, and it cannot be considered with other manifestations of anti-Armenian policy. It is not possible to talk only about “Western Azerbaijan” and understand what it is. One of the most important parts of it is the concept of “return”, where the following is literally written that “West Azerbaijanis” should not only return to “West Azerbaijan”, but also a legal framework should be provided there, that legal framework should be adapted to the settlers, a change of place names should take place, an international mission with police and civil administration powers should be located in Armenia, etc. This is part of the official state program, which does not often become the subject of our discussion. And fourthly, the “Western Azerbaijan” concept is a program in action,” added Varuzhan Geghamyan.

The panel discussion was organized by the Armenian Center for Advanced Research.

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