Will Ararat Mirzoyan go to Baku as a war trophy or as a foreign minister?

Last week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the situation in Azerbaijan, violations of human rights and international law, and relations with Armenia. The MEPs in the resolution reaffirmed their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both Azerbaijan and Armenia and the normalization of their relations based on the principles of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders in accordance with the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration.

They confirmed the demand for the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the entirety of Armenia’s sovereign territory. The MEPs also called on Azerbaijan to fully comply with all orders issued by the International Court of Justice, including the order of 17 November 2023 indicating provisional measures regarding the safe, unimpeded, and expeditious return of people who fled Nagorno-Karabakh.

And as MEPs adopt a resolution, the Armenian media has been reporting for the umpteenth time that Armenia will be present at the COP29 conference in Baku, and it is possible that it will be represented by Armenian foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan. Once again, the European Parliament adopts resolutions against the policy of the Ilham Aliyev regime (formal or not is another matter; the very fact of the adoption of resolutions is important here), which mention events both in Armenia and in Artsakh. However, the Armenian leadership, apparently, may go to the summit, which Baku will use as an international legitimization of the takeover of Artsakh. And the main trophy at this summit may be the representative of Armenia. We would like to emphasize that our arguments about Mirzoyan’s “potential adventures in Baku” are based on the fact that neither the Foreign Ministry nor the government refute the information of the Armenian media about the travel of the Armenian foreign minister to Azerbaijan.

Another thing is also important: for a long time, various representatives of the power group—from Vahagn Khachaturyan to Alen Simonyan and Arayik Harutyunyan—have been saying that the summit is a great opportunity to conclude a peace deal or that it is worth flying to Baku if the signing of a peace deal is close. Now, from the same articles in newspapers, we learn that for participating in the conference—for the fact that Armenia legitimizes the takeover of Artsakh—the Aliyev regime will give Yerevan only a few Armenian prisoners—those Armenians whom Nikol Pashinyan promised to return home “in 2-3 months” in 2021, during the re-election campaign.

Amid all this, we have to reiterate one of our previous thoughts: even if we leave aside the theory that since 2018 Nikol Pashinyan has been implementing a clear program written for him outside Armenia, the purpose of which is to destroy Armenian statehood in the region, and proceed from the fact that the Armenian authorities have good intentions, it is obvious that their competencies are not enough to solve the problems of the country (at the same time, do not forget that a huge number of these problems were created by them). Even if Pashinyan sincerely wants peace, unblocking communications, and the return of prisoners, he is not able to implement his own projects. That is why, in case of participation in the COP29 conference, Armenia can receive only a few prisoners instead of the “peace agreement” in Baku (and it is not a fact that Aliyev and Erdogan will hand over those prisoners).

Think about it…