As the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, states from the parliamentary rostrum, Azerbaijan and other so-called international actors may become concerned that half a million people in Armenia voted to launch the Artsakh movement and supported the idea of “Armenia from sea to sea.” In other words, according to Nikol Pashinyan’s logic, Azerbaijan and the world will be concerned that there are half a million “revanchists” in Armenia. That is the essence of his statement. He then declares that this is why he said that if he did not secure a constitutional majority, there would be war.
Of course, it is obvious that Nikol Pashinyan is distorting reality. In the case of his public speeches, this has already become an organic phenomenon. More than half a million Armenian citizens voted for the opposition not for revenge, but for restoration: the restoration of dignity, the restoration of the framework of national and state identity, the restoration of tolerance in state and public relations, the restoration of economic prospects and diplomatic capabilities, and, in the sum of all these elements, the formation of a higher-quality and more balanced peace.
The clear evidence of this is that the opposition forces of Armenia, especially the leading opposition forces, which received the lion’s share of the votes, did not, in any way, touch upon the content of revenge or “sea-to-sea” in their pre-election speeches. Moreover, they have regularly emphasized the need for peace, taking into account the current realities, and Armenia’s responsibility towards its international obligations. The public voted for all of this; it voted not for revenge, but for more effective governance and for the prospect of more competent domestic and foreign policies.
In that case, when the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia declares more than half a million people to be revanchists and states that this is a reason or basis for legitimate concern for Azerbaijan and the international community, he not only further deepens, as has become customary, internal societal polarization and intolerance, but also invites war against Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan is presenting the outcome of Armenia’s parliamentary elections — that is, the choice made by the sovereign citizens of the Republic of Armenia — as a legitimate pretext for war against the country.
Read also
And in that case, when the “legitimate pretext” is proclaimed from a high-level tribune and at a high level, it is, to put it mildly, not excluded that subsequently war may also become a concrete instrument for the unimpeded imposition of the Azerbaijani agenda on Armenia.
Hakob BADALYAN
