Geopolitical “underdog” or Pashinyan’s New York “tours”

In Armenian political reality, we can daily witness conflicting and antagonistic situations, which become a direct threat to the future existence of Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan has a key role in all of this; he does his best to serve and please external “masters”.

Yesterday it became known that Nikol Pashinyan and Anna Hakobyan left for New York for five days, where Pashinyan is preparing for the Summit of the Future and the work of the 79th Session of the U.N. General Assembly. It has already been confirmed that a meeting between Nikol Pashinyan and Recep Tayyip Erdogan—who is also participating in the assembly—will take place in New York. Expecting any pro-Armenian result from the Pashinyan-Erdogan meeting is surely a delusion, because it will, in fact, be a report of actions, where Pashinyan will present the points and provisions of the negotiation package with Azerbaijan to his “boss” in detail.

It should be noted that Ararat Mirzoyan also left for the U.S. with Pashinyan, and various unconfirmed reports are circulating that a meeting between Mirzoyan and Bayramov is not excluded. It is noteworthy that for a long time, the American side has been doing its best to assume a certain role in the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations and to be able to play a role in the document to be signed. The U.N. General Assembly is perhaps one of the best options for Blinken to try to play a “game” on this issue. By the way, we all remember that Ararat Mirzoyan, who was in New York last year, spoke about the rights and security issues of the Artsakh people in his speech, but we all know what happened to the wording of the ruling group after Sept. 19, while the Artsakh agenda is a closed topic for the present administration.

There was almost no doubt that in his speech, Pashinyan would not make any reference to the depopulation of Artsakh, the Azerbaijani genocidal policy, the invasion of the Azerbaijani army in the occupied sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, the return to the homeland of the military-political leadership of Artsakh— held in prison in Baku prison for a year—or the issue of prisoners in general—in his latest press conference, he stated in relation to the issue that the U.S. was still discussing the issue of the return of prisoners 10 years after the end of the Vietnam War. These are facts that do not have any primary importance for Pashinyan, and will definitely harm his “peace doctrine”. Instead, he selflessly talked about “philosophical narratives”, noting that his pre-election slogan was also related to “future” and emphasizing that, unlike his previous three speeches, he does not use harsh words toward his neighbors this time, etc.

Let us add that the Summit of the Future pact, which is due to be signed on the margins of this session, is a declarative and humanitarian document that has nothing to do with any key political issues. It attaches special importance to the global fight against poverty, the problems of giving more opportunities to women, girls and young people in public life. In other words, such an agenda is a real gift for Nikol Pashinyan. So, apart from declarative populism, there is no need to expect anything from Pashinyan in New York. As a rule, during such global forums, an attempt is always made not to miss the opportunity and to publicize the immediate problems facing a state and a people, because this is a format that is also a suitable opportunity to place the number one agenda in the general geopolitical agenda.

Let us note that there have been hundreds of such incidents in the history of the U.N. General Assembly. We all remember Che Guevara’s famous speech in 1965 regarding the Cuban crisis, the difficult financial situation of the people and the cruel policy of the U.S. in this regard, Khrushchev’s legendary shoe-banging incident, Castro’s speech, etc. This shows that the U.N. serves as a good platform to raise an existing issue and present it to global community, but it is a phenomenon that does not fit into Pashinyan’s “patriotic” narratives, so he would prefer to avoid talking about the concepts that serve the Armenian agenda and give himself up to the questions of the vision of the future.

It is very important to consider an episode in this general puzzle, about which information was spread by the press the other day. The other day, Senior Vice President for Policy Research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Dan Baer, ​​the former U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, noted that “Armenians must be ready to endure cold winters; we must be ready to maintain our support for a long time.” In other words, they may once again try to convince Pashinyan in New York to try to convince him to take even more extreme and drastic steps in the matter of Armenian-Russian relations, leading the country on the path of Ukrainization. It is natural that the pattern of Pashinyan’s actions and steps will not be so fast and sharp, but they will gradually “pat his head” to hit their targets.

So there is a big risk that Pashinyan will be presented with another series of unpleasant and painful concessions for us on the margins of his visit to New York, and the latter will undertake to implement them. The only reason for such an attitude is Pashinyan’s toothless political nature, when they are able to easily convince and get their desired result—various government officials of the Republic of Armenia have repeatedly noted in their speeches that “if necessary, they will live without electricity and gas”.

Here it is very important to note that in fact Pashinyan does not present himself as a factor, but as a tool, when he is used by his geopolitical patrons on any suitable occasion in carrying out the operation they like. A tool that is primarily directed against Armenians and Armenianness and serves exclusively the interests of foreigners—when every time in order to be politically re-imposed, he goes door-to-door and licks the shoes of different geopolitical poles, and the given pole, considering the situation and the moment uses Pashinyan, giving appropriate instructions and being sure that it will come to life without hindrance.

Pashinyan, who rejects “isms” by his nature, has proven many times that there is no value beyond his own power, let alone state interest.

Armen Hovasapyan