Former FM: For sake of illusory peace, under West`s dictation,  Armenia took course of least resistance to endless demands of Baku  and Ankara

ArmInfo.Armenia, like all countries that have suffered a defeat on the battlefield, after the 44-day war of 2020, was deprived of the main instruments that ensure its security environment - namely, military, territorial, moral and  psychological components.

Former Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara  Ayvazyan stated  on June 12 in Yerevan at the international round  table: "Foreign Policy Priorities of Russia and Armenia in the  Post-Soviet Space: CIS, EAEU and CSTO", organized by the Analytical  Center for Strategic Studies and Initiatives (ACSSI).

"Having suffered a defeat on the battlefield, the Armenian  authorities were unable or unwilling to use the capacity of diplomacy  to gradually level the situation. Along with objective reasons, fatal  mistakes and miscalculations of official Yerevan led to a situation  where foreign policy ceased to be a logical continuation of domestic  policy," the diplomat noted.

The former head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry believes that today  it is external actors and factors that predetermine, and sometimes  dictate, both Armenia's behavior in the international arena and  within the country. In this vein, he added that it is the external  front that is the most serious challenge to the security and  sovereignty of today's Armenia. At the same time, he noted that in  the current geopolitical realities, Armenia's neighbors have returned  to the already forgotten policy of overt coercion in order to realize  their own long-standing strategic goals.

"The foreign policy of Azerbaijan and Turkiye is aimed at finally  consolidating military successes in the political, economic and  ultimately ideological dimensions, which will lead to the  establishment of their permanent dominance in our region. As a  result, these actions will turn Armenia into an unviable state  entity," the diplomat noted, adding that Ankara and Baku are pursuing  an open expansionist foreign policy under the slogan of "peace."

According to him, in conditions where Azerbaijan and Turkiye no  longer hide their unchanging goal of finally neutralizing the  Armenian factor, it is difficult to give an adequate assessment of  Armenia's foreign policy.

Ayvazyan added that there is no longer any doubt that the current  Armenian authorities, under the guise of pragmatism and, of course,  under the dictation of the West, have taken the course of least  resistance to the endless demands of Baku and Ankara, to achieve an  illusory peace and establish good-neighborly relations with the  aggressors, who are pursuing completely different goals.  "In pursuit  of maintaining the increasingly worsening status quo, Armenia is  pursuing a policy of unilateral concessions and compromises. All this  can barely be considered a policy of appeasement, which is a failure  in its essence," he assures.

Ayvazyan believes that the policy of unilateral concessions and  so-called appeasement, which the Armenian authorities are conducting  to preserve the current shaky status quo, and Azerbaijan's  expansionist policy, which is meant to change the status quo forever  and finally in its favor, are incompatible. According to him, only an  objective assessment of the aggressor's policy can allow us to  develop measures to contain it. The former head of the Armenian  Foreign Ministry believes that in the current realities, Yerevan  needs to urgently change its foreign policy concept and adopt a  strategy of flexible political and diplomatic containment. At the  same time, he added that Armenia is not alone and can rely on  partners who have similar challenges, threats and interests.