The other day it became known that the European Union intends to send a new observation mission to Armenia in a month, this time not for two months, but for at least two years. The decision on the previous two-month mission was made on October 7 as a result of the meeting of the President of the Council of the European Union Charles Michel, the President of France Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in the Czech capital. Armenia expressed its agreement to encourage the EU civilian mission along the border with Azerbaijan.
A group of 40 EU observers carried out the mission in 2022, from October 20 to December 20. In a conversation with Aravot.am, Vitaly Mangasaryan, head of the “Henaket” analytical center, said what to expect from the new EU observation mission. “To make an objective, professional and logical assessment of this mission, it is more than essential to get acquainted with the work carried out by them in the previous two months and the report prepared on that occasion. As long as we are unfamiliar with that report, we are unaware of its content; it is difficult to talk about expectations from the mission arriving in two years.”
The report has not been made public. It is noteworthy that, unlike the two-month mission, the expected observation group will patrol throughout the territory of Armenia, raising specific questions. On this occasion, our interlocutor said: “Actually, we allow the European observers not only to carry out operations in hot spots but also to patrol the whole territory of Armenia. In this context, it is assumed that there are some estimates and dangers of the expected large-scale war, which Nikol Pashinyan has talked about on various occasions: In particular, declaring that Azerbaijan will commit a new genocide against the Armenian people. In this context, the danger is more than great, and I think, based on these considerations, Armenia agreed and gave the right to European observers to carry out a mission in the entire territory of Armenia.”
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Nelly GRIGORYAN
