What took place more or less over the past 30 years is justifying itself now too. One example is the banking system with all its flaws, which, within the conditions of these shocks, can generally maintain the stability of the Armenian dram. The healthcare system also did not fail during those shocks. Of course, it is not possible to downplay the work of the Ministers of Health and the chairs of the Central Bank for the last three years, but, I repeat, the foundations of the systems have been laid for decades.
And vice versa. What was bad before has been bad during these past three years and remains bad. The war is vivid proof of that. In April 2016, it seems to me that it became clear that sooner or later Azerbaijan will start a large-scale war, as well as it became clear what that war will be like. You did not have to be a military expert to understand that the war would be of a technological nature, that handing over a gun to a soldier and sending him into a trench was no longer enough.
Four years passed between April 2016 to September 2020, 2 of which were ruled by the “former” and 2 years by the “present.” What did both the former and the latter do to acquire the appropriate technologies? Nothing, they both probably thought, “when the time comes, the Russians will help.” That is, they will give us something for free or with big discounts. They did not give up, and the C-300 system they had previously given them was destroyed by the enemy within the first three days. It is clear that these technologies had to be bought with money from countries that were ready to sell, and there are many such countries.
But why remember everything? To blame each other, to stone each other, to call each other “Turks” and “traitors”? In my opinion, it is a pointless occupation to please the electorate. No one is a “Turk” or a “traitor,” they are just bad leaders, unelected or elected. (By the way, the fact that Civil Contract members are elected does not make them good leaders). But remembering the past is perhaps for one purpose only – to learn the right lessons. 2020 was not our last war, and now we have to prepare for the next war. In this regard, immediate steps are needed in diplomacy and army building. I am not sure that people capable of such steps have been appointed heads of those departments.
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But in any case, to sit and wait for the Russians to help us with everything is ineffective. We are “upset” with Israel that it supplied arms to Azerbaijan during the war, but Belarus did the same, from which we do not seem to be offended. Here are two countries from which, among others, weapons can be bought and which have repeatedly, almost officially, stated that they will not reject an application from us.
Of course, security is not just about buying weapons. The 44-day war showed that we, as a state, are not interesting to anyone. And to be interesting, to be needed by someone, you need to have a goal and present something of yourself. But that is a separate and very difficult topic.
Aram Abrahamyan
