Nikol Pashinyan`s 5-year rule has produced disastrous results for  Armenia - Vartan Oskanian

ArmInfo.Nikol Pashinyan's 5-year rule has produced disastrous results for Armenia, former FM Vartan Oskanian stated.  

The diplomat stated that any government receives an assessment of its  activities based on recorded results, and any government, even the  most failed one, hopes to improve the recorded results and be  remembered in history for some of its deeds, trying to leave failures  in the shadows.

According to Oskanyan, many people think that before the 44-day war,  Nikol Pashinyan knew what he was doing, or knew what he should do  after it. At the same time, he suggested presenting for a moment the  opposite version, that Pashinyan did not know what he was doing,  continues to not know what to do, and has no serious agreements with  anyone.

"In this context, it turns out that five years have passed since  Pashinyan came to power, and the recorded result, to put it mildly,  is catastrophic for the country. Defeat in the war, thousands of  casualties, loss of Artsakh, loss of the integrity of Armenia's  borders and the risk of further losses. According to the logic of  things, Pashinyan had to counter this with some kind of achievement.  Perhaps, in his opinion, this could be a prosperous life within the  borders of Armenia or a new geopolitical situation and an  advantageous position of the country in the situation that he  imagines. He must at all costs try to expand their power to such an  extent that, while implementing their imaginary plan, even despite  the violation of our moral, historical and other values, they can  offer such "compensation" that would allow us to forget about losses  and failures," says the former Foreign Minister Armenia.

Even if we admit that there is such a "compensation", which is  initially difficult to imagine, if at least there is such a vision in  the mind, the diplomat continued, then the problem is that it cannot  be realized if the performer does not know what he is doing.

Oskanyan believes that, as in all matters of foreign policy,  Pashinyan did not know what he was doing from the very beginning, and  this in turn led to war and defeat. According to him, what the  Armenian prime minister is doing with Armenia today is part of the  same path, because he again does not know what he is doing and does  not realize the consequences of this ignorance.

The diplomat added that instead of admitting the mistakes made and  mitigating the consequences, Pashinyan justifies the mistakes with  the prospect of achieving some new abstract goals. "What is this  goal? It has never been fully formulated. But periodic mentions of  29.8 thousand square kilometers give reason to assume that, in his  opinion, Armenia should have a bright future with these borders.  Anti- diplomatic and clumsy outpourings that what we see in foreign  policy is probably part of achieving this "goal."

The fact is that the threat to the current borders of Armenia  logically comes from Azerbaijan or Turkey. But it seems that third  parties are the parties to the negotiations for Pashinyan. And his  foreign policy messages are addressed to these parties, and with  these parties, he is convinced, he has reached certain agreements.   The tragedy is that it only seems to him. The reality is that no one  promised him, but he continues to build his policy on these imaginary  promises," Oskanyan continued.

In this vein, he recalled that one of the most important tools of  diplomacy is the creation of opportunities for tradeoff.

For a clear example, he cited the Prague meeting in the fall of 2022.  "For example, if in Prague, even after Artsakh was recognized as part  of Azerbaijan, he could have introduced into the negotiation agenda  the indisputable fact that Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous region  during the Soviet period, then today we would find ourselves in a  much more favorable negotiating situation. He did not do this, again  expecting something in return, as he believed, from third parties.

Even today, without raising questions about the return of the people  of Artsakh to their homeland and at least minimal autonomy for them,  the release of our compatriots from Baku prisons, Pashinyan continues  to mentally offer something to third parties, in return for which  Armenia should receive what he considers "compensation" for these  losses. He relied on a third party, without receiving any guarantees  and, in fact, without even having an agreed upon subject of  bargaining with these third parties," the former head of the Armenian  Foreign Ministry believes.

According to Oskanian, it does not take a master of diplomacy to  understand that if you bring zero demands to the negotiating table,  pose no questions and expect your silent concessions to be  appreciated somewhere, this can only lead to more concessions, which  will result in most likely there will be a much smaller, weaker and  unstable Armenia.