Kenan AĞAZADE
This has been emotional again in recent days in Yerevan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accepted within the framework of the Brussels format the conception of the future peace agreement with Azerbaijan. The Armenian opposition led by the tandemocracy of Sargsyan and Kocharyan again accused Pashinyan and blamed him for the new capitulation. The culmination of a new round of political struggle was a landmark speech by Pashinyan in Armenian parliament. The Armenian prime minister openly called for urgent peace talks and recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Armenia has only one way to achieve success and for that reason he said that we must solve Karabakh issue. Pashinyan summed up his speech with the statement that the patience of the world community is not constant.
Pashinyan warns and openly tells the members of parliament that the presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent does not guarantee the security of the civil Armenian population
These revelations caused hot political passions in the Armenian capital. The Armenian opposition tried to take a new chance to overthrow the objectionable government and opposition interpret the negotiability and constructivism of the head of government as the sign of defeatism and capitulation. The radical opposition parasitizes on the Karabakh issue, which is painful for the Armenian society. Whether opposition will be able to achieve removal of Pashinyan is still a big question. Indeed, the Armenian electorate expressed the absolute vote of confidence towards the ruling party in the last parliamentary elections. In addition, the opposition does not have an impressive social base for the revival of the protest movement. If Pashinyan shows political wisdom and uncompromisingness, the final peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia will achieve in the very near future.
However, the main events unfolded in the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh. The revival of the separatists, still claiming about the second Armenian state, indicates the emergence of a new obstacle in the path of Pashinyan in the face of the Karabakh Armenians. The separatists in Khankendi completely reject the solution of Karabakh issue voiced by Pashinyan and still insist on self-determination, a priori excluding the vertical system of relations with Azerbaijan. Although, this victoriously ended with the second war for official Baku and Azerbaijan closed the issue of status.
In his speeches, Ilham Aliyev often returns to the issues of the separatists and denoting the final position of Azerbaijan: no status!
After Pashinyan’s emotional speeches in the Armenian parliament, an extraordinary meeting of the so-called parliament held in Khankendi with the participation of local all factions and political forces. As a result of the meeting, a statement adopted on the unacceptability of the attempts of the Armenian government to compromise the so-called independence of the separatist republic. In other words, the separatists in Khankendi rebelled against Pashinyan. In particularly, Metaxe Hakobyan introduced herself as a member of the quasi-parliament and stated the following: We must stop Pashinyan, and we must not allow this person to negotiate and destroy so called Artsakh and Armenia with his sole decisions.
The separatist leader Arayik Harutyunyan still refrains from direct accusations against Pashinyan, but at the same time cultivates the idea of establishing vertical relations with Russia. Moreover, Harutyunyan continued consultations with the commanders of illegal Armenian armed formations, which, contrary to the Moscow agreement, continue to maintain their presence in the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers. He said that they must coordinate all defense programs with the functions of the Russian peacekeeping forces. Thus, Harutyunyan gives illegal armed groups the place around Russian peacekeeping contingent. Finally, it will not influence the fundamental expectations about the long-term peace in the South Caucasus.