Until we “surrender Ararat”, we will not live well
January 28 2025, 12:30
Nikol Pashinyan’s every public statement stands out with a number of remarks that can be described as “destruction of red lines,” use of Azerbaijani narratives, manipulation, etc. Of course, there are many politicians in the modern world who have turned populism into a “political religion”, but we are primarily interested in Armenia and its future.
The discourse about the mountains of Ararat and Aragats is very important for the reform of the Armenian army, Pashinyan said in an interview with Public Television. “If we reform the army within the framework of the discourse about Ararat and historical Armenia, we will have no one not only to sell us weapons but also approve military cooperation with us. We will turn ourselves into a target, in the eyes of the international community, among other things,” he said.
To be brief, Pashinyan stated the following: “Until we ‘surrender Ararat,’ we will not live well.” Does it remind you of something? Don’t you have déjà vu? After the “revolution” in 2018, in order to establish sole power in the National Assembly and then in the Constitutional Court, the authorities introduced the thesis that “until early elections are held in Armenia, there will be no investments in the country” and then the thesis that “until Armenia has confidence in the Constitutional Court, there will be no investments in the country.” We all remember how it ended—the war came to our house after Pashinyan established control over both the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court.
We will have time to address the subtext of Pashinyan’s statements; however, we note that for many decades, while Ararat was on the coat of arms of Armenia, the country was not an outcast in world politics. Moreover, it had the opportunity to join the ranks of its partners in the development of its military, economic, and political potential. So, with Ararat on the coat of arms, Armenia became a member of the CSTO, a member of the EAEU, and had billions of dollars in contracts for the supply of weapons from Russia. Of course, the government, which believes that the topic of the “Armenian Genocide was artificially created by the Soviet government,” can retort and say that “it is impossible to talk about these unions and organizations, since they were aimed at securing the status of a Russian province for our country.” In this case, what can we say about the fact that with Ararat on its coat of arms, Armenia became a full member of the Council of Europe in 2001 and joined the WTO in 2003? Moreover, back in 1992, the country joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, and in 1994 joined the NATO Partnership for Peace program. Weapons were also purchased not only in Russia, and Pashinyan knows this. He also knows that no one except Turkey and Azerbaijan looked at the Armenian coat of arms.
As you know, on January 7, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Armenia should immediately stop arming. “France and other countries that supply it with weapons should cancel these deals. The weapons that have already been delivered to Armenia must be returned. This is our condition,” he stressed. Basically, in his interview, Aliyev demanded Armenia’s demilitarization. Do you think the pretext of Ararat is not a simple excuse to implement Aliyev’s above-mentioned demands? It’s easy not to conduct exercises and buy the necessary weapons, explaining this with the Ararat on the coat of arms, isn’t it?
Think about it…