Forced displacement of Artsakh population exposed strategic  vulnerability of  entire region - ex-FM

ArmInfo.  The occupation of Artsakh in 2023 had broader and more dangerous consequences than just territorial changes - the forced displacement of an entire people  revealed the strategic vulnerability of the entire region. This is  stated in an article by former Foreign Minister of Armenia, founding  member of the Pan-Armenian Council of Diplomats Ara Ayvazyan,  distributed by the Alternative Projects group.

He drew attention to the fact that the vacuum caused by the fall of  Artsakh led to the revival of the imperial mentality. "After this  "denouement", external powers - Turkey, Russia, Iran and the West -  began to play a more active role in the region, each with the  intention of restoring their "historical zone of influence" not as a  peacemaker, but as a beneficiary. These powers, which are the bearers  of imperial memory, are again beginning to determine the fate of  small nations in accordance with the logic of their strategic games.  All this is happening against the backdrop of deep instability of the  global system, when regional conflicts are turning into an arena of  rivalry between superpowers," Ayvazyan explained. 

According to him, indifference to the real needs of peoples for  peace, security and dignity becomes obvious, when borders are changed  through violence, and destinies are sacrificed to so-called  historical expediency. As the former Foreign Minister explained in  this vein, these powers, acting as modern heirs to fallen empires,  viewed Artsakh not as the homeland of the Armenian people, but as a  chessboard. "That is why they so easily ignored the legitimate rights  of the people of Artsakh and their legitimate security concerns,"  Ayvazyan believes.

However, he does not believe that the tragedy that occurred in  Artsakh was inevitable. As the former Foreign Minister noted, in  addition to the well-known reasons, it was made possible and, in a  sense, directed by forces that proclaimed force and the forced  displacement of people as the basis of "peace" and believed that  dominance equals stability. "But dominance without legitimacy breeds  resistance, and stability based on fear and silence can collapse.  Selective justice, the sacrifice of peoples, and forced peace  exacerbate crises instead of resolving them," the founding member of  the Pan-Armenian Council of Diplomats noted.

In this vein, he drew attention to the historical pattern according  to which powerful empires, no matter how powerful they seemed during  their heyday, could not avoid decline in the end. "Empires do not  collapse because they face challenges. They fail because they cannot  respond to these challenges with prudence, clarity and realism. They  fall when their leaders confuse silence with consent, control with  legality and domination with wisdom. When leaders begin to believe  that they are eternal, when they become the embodiment of the state  and when national interests are mixed with personal ambitions,  decline becomes inevitable," the ex-minister explained.

It was precisely this arrogance and blindness of the imperial  thinking of various actors, according to him, that became the cause  of the tragedy, and not only for the people of Artsakh. However, he  drew attention to another historical pattern: when empires make  mistakes, small nations suffer first, but the consequences of these  mistakes, sooner or later, inevitably return to the empires  themselves. "When power is used to deny reality, when human lives are  viewed as insignificant sacrifices and when leadership is turned into  an instrument of personal glory, such empires inevitably follow the  path of internal decay and destruction," Ayvazyan emphasizes.  However, despite this, the former head of the Foreign Ministry  believes that Armenia is not doomed to final defeat. Ayvazyan is  confident that even in the conditions of great power games, imperial  thinking and strategic cynicism, there is still the possibility of a  wise and purposeful choice. "Our response must be a well-thought-out  strategy based on national interests, with a clear and coordinated  formation of an alternative foreign policy and consolidation of all  domestic and national potential. Even in the most difficult  situations, it is possible to form a new course that combines wisdom,  experience, realism and consistency.

The changing world order will sooner or later create a window of  opportunity, and only adequate preparation can ensure that this  window opens not for others, but for Armenia itself," Ayvazyan summed  up.

We remind you that on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan, under the  pretext of an "anti-terrorist operation", committed another act of  aggression against Artsakh. This was preceded by an almost 10-month  blockade of the unrecognized republic. Since the enemy aggression  that began in the fall of 2020, which in September 2023 ended in the  complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, over 150 thousand Artsakh  residents have lost their homeland and become refugees.