Ruling force`s defeat in Gyumri to be signal that Armenia deserves real and dignified peace

ArmInfo. The defeat of the political force of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Gyumri could be an important message for both Azerbaijan and the international community, confirming that the Armenian people truly deserve a fair and stable peace.  Political scientist, co-founder of the Alternative Projects group Vahe Hovhannisyan wrote about this on his Facebook page in connection with the completion of negotiations on the draft peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia on March 13.

The expert drew attention to the fact that the victory of the ruling force in Gyumri, in turn, could significantly toughen Azerbaijan's position towards Armenia and lead to new demands. Hovhannisyan explained that in this case, the Armenian public would be perceived as broken and unworthy, ready to put up with any circumstances.

"Today, the Armenian Prime Minister lowered the bar for Armenia and led to the formation of a large refugee camp - 2.8 million people.  Only the inertial life that exists between the administration and the anti- administration remains in the country, but the real power and opposition have disappeared, since there is no logic and sense of long-term perspective," the political scientist explained.

Touching upon the negotiations on the draft peace agreement between Yerevan and Baku, Hovhannisyan asked a rhetorical question about whether the Armenian society realizes that the current events are a consequence of their choice in 2021. In this regard, the expert recalled that once Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev proposed equal statuses for the Lachin and Zangezur routes, but the Armenian Prime Minister refused these conditions and led to the loss of Artsakh.  Hovhannisyan expressed his conviction that there is no political elite in Armenia capable of conveying the importance of these issues to society.

"Not only is there a deep crisis of literate thought and calculation in Armenia, but literate people are gradually turning into something else. The country's intellectual potential has been reduced to the level of conversations typical of rural areas. Most parties and the vast majority of various leaders will do the right thing if they remain silent at this stage, since in any case they will not be able to adequately respond to the new reality that has emerged since yesterday," the expert noted.

At the same time, the political scientist reminded that there are still 15 days left to explain to the residents of Gyumri that the boss of their candidate - "their Sarik" (Sarik Minasyan - candidate of the ruling party "Civil Contract" for mayor of Gyumri - ed.), for whom they are going to vote, will lead them all to a serious test or trouble in the near future. Hovhannisyan drew attention to the fact that today in Gyumri there is an erroneous formulation that the residents do not understand: "We do not vote for Nikol Pashinyan, we do not vote for the ruling party "Civil Contract", but we vote for "our Sarik".

In this regard, Hovhannisyan noted that Armenia has several options for the correct response. First, it is necessary to reject Pashinyan's power in Gyumri. Second, Pashinyan's power should be rejected everywhere, even at the everyday level. Third, it is important to give the world clear signals that Armenia is ready for peace, but there are certain nuances that make this impossible for now.

"The maturity of our political thought and the content of the future government should not consist of simply waving a non-existent sword, but in finding a formula for peace that leads to real de-escalation and offering it to society," Hovhannisyan concluded.

On March 13, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported that Armenia had accepted all of Baku's proposals for a peace agreement, including the abolition of the OSCE Minsk Group and amendments to the country's Constitution. In the afternoon, official Yerevan confirmed this information. As stated by the head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Jeyhun Bayramov, at the next stage Baku expects Armenia to amend the Constitution, which, according to him, still contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

We will add that the early elections to the Councils of Elders of Gyumri in the Shirak region and Parakar in the Armavir region will be held on March 30 of this year. Nine political forces are participating in the elections - six parties and three blocs.