Pashinyan is confident only in fulfilling the demands of Baku and Ankara

As election day approaches—whether early or regular—the domestic political discourse in Armenia will intensify. The question, “Who brought Nikol Pashinyan to power?” will resonate more loudly. Some will justify it, while the people will draw their own conclusions. Pashinyan, for his part, will be more candid under the pressure of circumstances.
We witnessed one of these acts of frankness today in the National Assembly, during a briefing with journalists. Pashinyan revealed that, in the context of relations with Baku and Ankara, he is certain of two things: the new Constitution of the Republic of Armenia will not reference the Declaration of Independence, and the Karabakh issue is closed, as “the Karabakh movement cannot be continued.”

Notably, Pashinyan is confident only in the agenda that Baku and Ankara are interested in today. At the same time, we learned from the same briefing that the leader of the Civil Contract party is not sure that a peace agreement with Baku can be signed this year. He is not sure that after all that has happened and after all Yerevan’s concessions—most notably, after the surrender of Artsakh and the forced displacement—Baku would refrain from opting for transport communications via Iran, among other alternatives.

As for the Constitution, we would like to note once again that the ultimate goal of Baku and Ankara is to make Armenia a non-aligned state. This is the foundation of a new basic law, which, apparently, is being written for Armenia by Azerbaijan and Turkey. Taking into account the fact that Pashinyan and the Civil Contract party are consistently implementing projects that Ankara would like to see implemented, we can safely assume that the “constitutional reforms” will result in Armenia’s transformation into a neutral country. This is exactly what will happen if the opposition, following the example of Gyumri, fails to bring political changes to Armenia.
No matter how we try to avoid such a question, the reality is that the future election cycle will be about whether an Armenian citizen chooses “Western Azerbaijan” or the Republic of Armenia.

Think about it…