Vartan Oskanian: Following the full implementation of the ‘peace agreement,’ we can expect even further degradation of Armenia’s sovereignty
If we conditionally view last week’s events as an important turning point in Armenia’s political life, it is worth looking back once and then forward to assess the damage inflicted on the Armenian people by Pashinyan’s government, as well as the harm that could be caused in the future, Vartan Oskanian, Former Foreign Minister of Armenia, writes.
“Here, I will not even touch upon the devastation wrought on Armenia’s democracy, its relations with the Diaspora, the Armenian Church, the economy, the social fabric, the judiciary, the media, civil society, and the individual citizen. That record is equally grim.
I will focus solely on existential issues: sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, war, and peace. In the past seven years, we have lost Nagorno-Karabakh in its entirety; thousands of lives; an untold number of maimed, injured, and missing; hostages now held in Baku; swathes of Armenia’s own territory under Azerbaijani control; the concession of the so-called Zangezour corridor in the country’s most strategically vital region; and the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group process.
In the period following the full implementation of the pre-signed so-called “peace agreement,” we can expect even further degradation of Armenia’s sovereignty: constitutional changes forced upon us against the people’s will; more territorial concessions, including enclaves on strategic north–south transport routes; possible partial disarmament and limits on our security options; withdrawal of all international claims, primarily the ICJ decision on the right of return for the people of Nagorno Karabakh, and the chilling prospect of Armenians being detained and handed over to Azerbaijan simply for having participated in Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-determination struggle. And all of the above without an iota of guarantees for Armenia’s security and long-term peace.
One more point: the claim that “if we had not conceded the corridor in this way, it would have been taken by force” is unfounded, unacceptable, and very dangerous. Any government that would use such reasoning to justify its failures should long ago have lost the right to remain in power. Secondly, Pashinyan has publicly admitted that he ceded all of Nagorno Karabakh to prevent such an outcome. Now he has conceded both at once.
I wrote this note in exactly five minutes, so I apologize for the many other examples of damage—past, present, and impending—that I have left unmentioned. But even this partial record speaks for itself,” Oskanian writes.
