Is Ararat Mirzoyan afraid to point directly at Azerbaijan?

For several years now, the Armenian authorities have been trying to convince people that the talks with Azerbaijan and Turkey are not related to each other. They have been saying this despite the fact that Ruben Rubinyan, the chief responsible for the normalization between Armenia and Turkey, is constantly present during talks with official Baku.

However, today, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan made a statement that may directly refute the thesis that these talks are not related.

“There is a very healthy dialogue in Armenia-Turkey relations. There are also agreements, the main of which, unfortunately, have not yet been implemented due to the third factor,” Mirzoyan said in the National Assembly of Armenia.

Among other things, we would like to understand at what point Ararat Mirzoyan began to avoid publicly pointing out that Azerbaijan is the “third factor” hindering the “normalization of relations with Turkey.” Moreover, this looks especially ridiculous given the fact that only two years ago, Mirzoyan had the courage to declare that Ankara was synchronizing the Armenian-Turkish process with Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

The details of this “synchronization” in October of the same year 2022—after Nikol Pashinyan surrendered Artsakh to Azerbaijan in Prague—were revealed by Turkish former foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who stated that it was fundamentally wrong to think that the dialogue between Turkey and Armenia was disconnected from Azerbaijan. “We will not act independently of Azerbaijan. In 2009, there were certain discrepancies. The President of Turkey and (Azerbaijani President Ilham) Aliyev are in constant contact today. This process is not directed against Baku. This process will benefit them,” he said.

It was not by chance that Cavusoglu recalled 2009, the period of football diplomacy, when, among other things, Azerbaijan’s direct interference made it impossible to “normalize relations between Yerevan and Ankara.” Today, the situation is exactly the same as it was 15 years ago. Azerbaijan will do everything in its power to prevent relations between Armenia and Turkey from developing. Of course, Turkey has claims against Armenia even without Azerbaijan (the issue of the Constitution, the coat of arms of Armenia, symbols associated with Mount Ararat, etc.); however, official Baku plays a significant role in the fact that relations between Yerevan and Ankara will not be normalized. No matter how many times the head of the State Revenue Committee, Rustam Badasyan, takes European officials to the checkpoint in Margara, the border will not open soon.

Speaking of Armenian symbols… Having occupied France during World War II and created a puppet government in part of the Republic’s territories, fascists took control of the Vichy regime that replaced the French Republic. The motto of the French Republic, “Liberty, equality, fraternity,” was replaced by “Work, family, homeland.” The “Marseillaise” officially remained the anthem, but at the request of the Germans it was banned, and the actual anthem was a song in honor of Marshal Pétain, “Marshal, here we are!” who headed the Vichy regime loyal to the Nazis.

Think about it…