Robert Ustyan: There is no end to all the concessions that Pashinyan is ready to make

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Robert Ustyan commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement about a possible war if Azerbaijan’s demands for the surrender of Tavush villages are not met.

According to the expert, the arguments that are used today and the level of Pashinyan’s argumentation mean one thing: there is no end or limit to all the concessions that Armenia is ready to make.

“For many years, when Pashinyan said on the square in Stepanakert that Karabakh is Armenia and danced in Shushi, I was a supporter of the peace process. But even in my worst nightmare, I could not have imagined what would happen. The argument that the Prime Minister uses—that if Armenia does not give away these villages, there will be a war—essentially turns Armenia into a banana state, into a banana republic. It means that this is the end.

We must all admit that the arguments that are being used today and the level of Mr. Pashinyan’s argumentation mean one thing: there is no end or limit to all the concessions that the Republic of Armenia is ready to make. I can easily replace everything that Mr. Pashinyan says with other phrases: if Armenia does not give away Syunik, there will be a war; if Armenia does not open the Zangezur corridor, there will be a war; if Armenia does not become part of western Azerbaijan, there will be a war. This is what is catastrophic about the situation.

If Mr. Pashinyan—whom I have supported for a long time and still believe that the only way for Armenia is to sign a peace treaty—thinks that he is bringing peace to Armenia, then I have to disappoint him. Now there is a strong feeling of complete capitulation and humiliation for the Republic of Armenia. Mr. Pashinyan is the architect of the Armenian Versailles, as it was with Germany before the Second World War,” Ustyan said.

According to the political scientist, what is happening is a disaster for Armenia and a personal disaster for Pashinyan.

“I am sincerely sorry that competence and everything that is happening in Armenia today led Pashinyan to such a monstrous, in my opinion, argument and, in fact, blackmail of the Armenian people. When Pashinyan says, ‘we will meet you in the square, and you will tell me you didn’t know, but I knew everything and didn’t warn you’, then he is obliged to say where this information came from, that a war would start at the end of the week. What is happening is a disaster for the Republic of Armenia and a personal disaster for Mr. Pashinyan,” Ustyan concluded.