Nineteen political forces are making promises. Experts offer various tools for determining how realistic those promises are and, no less importantly, whether political forces actually intend to fulfill them once they come to power.
But there is also an old, time-tested tool, clearly formulated in the Gospel and directly related to false prophets: “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16). In today’s context, this criterion applies not to all political forces, but to those that have at some point held power — because “deeds” are carried out only when one has the levers of government. Above all, however, this standard applies to the incumbent authorities. In particular, we can compare what was being said during the 2021 election campaign with what is being said today.
“Armenia’s position [is] that the Azerbaijani armed forces must leave the territory of Armenia. And we see an opportunity to resolve this issue through diplomatic means.” These were the words of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a rally during the 2021 parliamentary election campaign.
After the elections, when Pashinyan remained in office, did Azerbaijani forces leave Armenia’s territory? No. They pushed even deeper into Armenian territory and remain there to this day. During the September 2022 clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, when Azerbaijan seized sovereign Armenian territory, more than 200 Armenian servicemen were killed. This is the kind of “peace” Civil Contract has delivered.
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Incidentally, Pashinyan becomes irritated when people remind him of the 5,000 dead. He insists the number is exaggerated — that “only” 3,833 people were killed. But even if that figure is accurate, why is there no discussion of those killed afterward on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border? Why have the victims of September 2023 been forgotten, when Azerbaijan attacked an already abandoned Artsakh? Or did those deaths somehow not occur under the rule of the “peace-bringing” Pashinyan?
The fate of the 2021 campaign promises should be remembered now that Civil Contract is promising not to bring in 300,000 Azerbaijanis, not to hand over the enclaves, or to remove Azerbaijani troops from Armenia’s sovereign territory through “delimitation.”
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
