Tuesday, August 29 2023 16:09

ArmInfo.Official Baku, which had arrested the Karabakh Armenians yesterday, sent a consignment of  goods along the Aghdam road, and the puzzle finally took shape. Political observer of the Politeconomy Research Institute Beniamin Matevosyan states.

He recalled that yesterday, another hostile act committed by official  Baku was actively discussed in Armenia and Artsakh, when three  residents of Artsakh (Armenian citizens) were detained at the  Azerbaijani checkpoint for "disrespect for the state symbols of  Azerbaijan" (according to the Azerbaijani interpretation, the guys,  wiped their feet on Azerbaijani flag).

Needless to say, that this act was received emotionally both in  Yerevan and in Stepanakert. Needless to say, the authorities both in  Armenia and in the NKR considered a similar scenario and managed to  use the popular protest for their own purposes.

"In Yerevan, people affiliated with Artsakh President Arayik  Harutyuyan organized a popular protest near the Russian embassy  instead of the Armenian government building (although Nikol Pashinyan  personally recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan by his Prague  decision of October 2022, which eliminated not only negotiations on  the status of Artsakh, but also such a factor as the Lachin corridor,  turning it into the territory of Azerbaijan, on which official Baku  has established a checkpoint and from which it can kidnap Armenian  citizens living in the NKR)," the expert noted. At the same time, he  drew attention to the fact that the rally in Stepanakert turned into  a platform where Arayik Harutyunyan voiced a number of  noteworthy/dangerous theses.

According to him, firstly, he spoke about the potential opening of  the road (we are talking about the Kashatagh / Lachin corridor) so  that "people could leave Nagorno-Karabakh", in other words, he  announced a potential readiness to negotiate the evacuation of the  Armenians of Artsakh; "Secondly, he said that the issue of bread  should be resolved in the coming days, while noting that "the people  of Karabakh believed in everyone: the UN, V. Putin, D. Biden, E.  Macron to Pashinyan - but in fact "They all left them, leaving them  as prisoners." From which it is not difficult to conclude that the  "abandoned Artsakh" should negotiate with Baku.

And, what a surprise, the day after Harutyunyan's emotional speech,  Baku announced that they were sending "humanitarian aid" to  Stepanakert along the Aghdam road," the political scientist noted.   Matevosyan believes that Arayik Harutyunyan's statement that  "everyone deceived the Karabakh people" not only lead to the  conclusion that with this statement he substantiates the need to  start negotiations with Baku on "integration" (in fact, the start of  filtration and evacuation), but also largely repeats the thesis that,  the Azerbaijani authorities brought to the attention of the Karabakh  authorities through "unofficial channels", at the very beginning of  the blockade.

The political scientist stated that according to this thesis, in the  conditions when Armenia has relieved itself from any kind of  responsibility in relation to Artsakh, the Karabakh authorities  "having passed through all instances, from the ICC to the UN" will  eventually be forced to negotiate with Baku, since if "Armenia  refuses to help Stepanakert, no one else will do it."

"In fact, everything is exactly like this, and in the conditions when  Nikol Pashinyan, by his personal decision, edited the document dated  November 9, 2020, which left the question of the status of Artsakh "  hanging in the air ", and recognized the NKR as part of Azerbaijan,  and the authorities of Artsakh in the political processes in Armenia  did not indicate their disagreement with this act in no way, they  left themselves and the people of Artsakh face to face with the  regime of Ilham Aliyev and official Istanbul supporting him.

Such is the cruel reality and such is the price of refusing to engage  in politics by political figures," Matevosyan believes.

In conclusion, the expert drew attention to the fact that the  election campaign for the Council of Elders of Yerevan clearly  demonstrates that the vast majority of political teams participating  in the elections did not realize that any of the residents of the RA  could be in Vagif Khachatryan's or young Artsakh football players'  shoes.

"And Azerbaijan will be able to kidnap any RA citizen objectionable   to them from the territory of Armenia itself, if "peace" is  established on the terms of official Baku, which will have the  opportunity to set up its checkpoints in a number of places in  Armenia or achieve the resettlement of tens of thousands of  Azerbaijanis in Pashinyan's "29,800 square kilometers," Matevosyan  concluded.