Two SOCAR gasoline trucks have delivered gasoline and diesel fuel. The city of Khankendi has been connected to Azerbaijan’s power grid. The list can go on and on. At the meeting in Yevlakh the parties discussed issues of fuel supply, operation of medical centers, etc. Gas and electricity supply are on the agenda. Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov spoke about the results of the Yevlakh meeting and about the reintegration program at the UN Security Council meeting. Azerbaijan considers Karabakh Armenians its citizens and puts its money where its mouth is. While everyone else…
Politicians of all stripes in Armenia love to talk about solidarity with their “Artsakh brothers”. And yet…
Until 2020, Armenian politicians traveled to Karabakh, posed in front of local landmarks, had drunken dances in Shusha and racked up votes. Then, after the war, Karabakh turned into something between a “suitcase without a handle” and a “hot potato”: they do not want to throw it away, it is too heavy to carry and even to keep it in your hands. Now the residents of Karabakh are nothing but a hindrance to Pashinyan. It is not much fun to watch silently as the separatist project collapses; interfering would be guaranteed military-political suicide for Armenia. Accepting refugees from Karabakh on their own territory? Pashinyan does not need Karabakh residents in Armenia. They are the potential electorate of his opponents, the “Karabakh clan”. And this electorate is largely armed. That is why in November 2020, when there were at best a thousand and a half people left in Karabakh, Nikol Vovayevich did his best to “push” them back into the area of temporary deployment of the Russian peacekeeping forces (today Yerevan accuses Russia of that “pushing”). As for the “Karabakh clan”, it needs their fellow countrymen in Khankendi solely as a topic and a tool for internal political attacks against Pashinyan. But it is Pashinyan who has to drink the cup of defeat to the dregs, and it is under his leadership—and by him!—that all the “enslaving”, “defeatist”, and “traitorous” agreements with Azerbaijan have to be signed. They will have to be signed regardless of whether it is Pashinyan, Kocharyan, Sargsyan or any other “-yan” that is in power in Armenia.
External players, too, like to talk about solidarity with the Armenians of Karabakh. But… they, too, needed the Armenians of Karabakh as a topic for garnering votes. Today, when the trucks with the hyped “humanitarian aid” from Armenia and France turn around and drive away from the border with Azerbaijan, we should remember how the “charity” trucks of the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo were fitted with “aid to Artsakh” posters. Not “for the needy”, not “for Armenian brothers”, but “Artsakh”. They knew perfectly well that trucks with such posters would not be allowed through the Lachin border crossing checkpoint. This means that Madame Hidalgo did her best to make sure that the trucks with “humanitarian aid” would NOT get to Khankendi.
Lobbyists need the Karabakh issue to capitalize on it, European and American politicians need it to rake in Armenian votes and have a leverage against Azerbaijan, it is a convenient platform for negotiations, visits to the region and initiatives, but to sit down, think and understand that now it is best to leave the Karabakh people alone, not to push them into reckless ventures, not to foster dangerous illusions and allow them to build a normal life as part of Azerbaijan is boring and does not promise big and quick political dividends.
And at the end of the day, it turns out that only the Azerbaijani authorities really care about the future and the plight of the Karabakh Armenians. That Azerbaijan both during the 44-day war and now spent billions of dollars on high-precision weapons to minimize civilian casualties, and today, without theatrical effects and dramatic gestures, it sends trucks with food and fuel to Khankendi. This is our territory, our area of responsibility, and our citizens. And there is a chance that the right conclusions will be drawn from this.
Nurani
Translated from Minval.az
