Rally in Cascade for Artsakh, May 12, 1988:

On May 12, 1988, the Armenian people united in the Cascade to express their solidarity and advocate for the rightful demand of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population. Their aim was to urge the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh from the Azerbaijani SSR to the Armenian SSR.

Comparison to the Present Pashinyan’s Impact:

Today, the situation in Armenia has evolved significantly. under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, there have a shift toward pro-Turk which has been an impact on the Armenian people. Pashinyan’s policies have resulted in division and demoralization within the Armenian population.

The ruling majority “Civil Contract” Faction in the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia on Tuesday removed, by a vote of 62 in favor and 1 against, nonpartisan MP Taguhi Tovmasyan from the position of chairperson of the NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs.

The opposition “Armenia” and “With Honor” Factions did not participate in the respective debates and subsequent voting on this matter.

The ruling majority faction had put into circulation the draft on terminating Tovmasyan’s powers as chair of the aforesaid committee.

And the grounds for removing Tovmasyan from this position was that during the debates on the matter of the Human Rights Defender candidates in the aforementioned committee, there was a war of words between the pro-government MPs and opposition candidate Edgar Ghazaryan, but Tomasyan did not announce a break and did not urge Ghazaryan to apologize for calling the 2018 change of power in Armenia “Azerbaijani-Turkish.”

By Michael Rubin,

Israel’s close ties with Azerbaijan are no secret. For Israel, realism and strategic necessity govern decision-making.

Azerbaijan provided the Jewish state with fuel at a time when most Arab oil producers boycotted Israel. In exchange, Israel provided Azerbaijan with top-tier weaponry. That a Muslim-majority state established a warm partnership with Israel was also affirming. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, used its ties to Israel to leverage allies in the United States.

Calculations regarding Iran also played a role. Prior to the Iraq War, Azerbaijan and Iran were the only two Shiite-majority states with a Shiite government. Azerbaijan antagonized Iran because it shined by juxtaposition. Iranians vacationing in Baku could walk the corniche without fears of morality police or the burden of compulsory hijab. They could enjoy beer, wine, or something harder in Baku’s bars and restaurants in a way they never could in Tehran, at least openly. That a secular republic outperformed a theocratic one undermined the Islamic Republic’s claim to divine legitimacy. 

Azerbaijan’s service as a launch pad for the shadow war against Iran was just as important. Azerbaijan allowed both the United States and Israel listening posts, if not access to its territory, in order to conduct espionage against Iran, if not operations. Until Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev subordinated himself to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and then pivoted toward Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijan was simply a better ally than Turkey on issues relating to Iran.

Situations evolve. Israel no longer needs to depend on Azerbaijani fuel, given the establishment of warm diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates as well as the development of the Eastern Mediterranean gas field. Israel’s accelerated embrace of Azerbaijan, however, comes at a huge strategic cost. In the months prior to Azerbaijan’s September 2020 surprise attack on the Artsakh, the self-governing but unrecognized Armenian state in Nagorno-Karabakh, Israel provided Azerbaijan with drones that tilted the balance of the war in Azerbaijan’s favor. Israeli officials and partisans pointed out that the international community recognizes the entirety of Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani. Some also point to a history of close ties between Armenia and Iran. 

Precedent matters. The basis of Minsk Group diplomacy prior to the 2020 war was land for peace: Armenia had agreed to return some Azeribaijani districts that it had occupied three decades before to defend strategic routes between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and guarantee Armenia’s water security. Armenia also sought to tie compromise on the status of Artsakh to assurances that Azerbaijan would not continue the ethnic cleansing of the historic Armenian majority in Nagorno-Karabakh. While the international community recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, international law is more complicated. Independent Azerbaijan never controlled Nagorno-Karabakh. Josef Stalin gifted the territory to Azerbaijan after the formation of the Soviet Union as part of his efforts to gerrymander the USSR’s constituent nationalities. When Azerbaijan reasserted its independence at the fall of the Soviet Union, it did so on the basis of the borders of pre-Soviet Azerbaijan that did not include Nagorno-Karabakh. Regardless, repeated referenda showed the majority of the region’s population rejected Azeri rule and sought self-determination. 

Azerbaijan, of course, rejects this. While the country is oil-rich, Aliyev family corruption has impoverished Azerbaijan. On a per capita basis, Azerbaijan is poorer than both Armenia and Georgia, neither of which have Azerbaijan’s oil and gas. 

Israel Undermines Its Own Arguments

Ideology also comes into play. Azeris demonize Armenians in a way that has no equivalent in Armenia. Indeed, there is a functioning mosque in the center of Yerevan. Aliyev’s own rhetoric dehumanizes Armenians and likens them to animals and insects. That the September 2020 invasion came on the centenary of the Ottoman invasion of Armenia was no coincidence – it directly linked the action to a key episode in the Armenian genocide. 

By siding with Baku, Jerusalem sets a precedent by which it undermines its own arguments for defensible borders. Ignoring Armenia’s historical ties to Artsakh and the will of the Armenians living there for generations also empowers those who deny any Jewish heritage in Jerusalem and the Israeli government’s own claims to portions of the West Bank.

Pundits and propagandists can tweet and repeat “Armenia is an ally of Iran” as a mantra, but this is disingenuous. Azerbaijan and Turkey’s blockade of Armenia forces the relationship and empowers Iran. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, treats such pundits as useful idiots to distract Washington as Baku deepens its own economic ties to Tehran.  

Perhaps Israel’s greatest mistake, however, is moral. Aliyev’s rhetoric toward Armenia and Armenians is little different than Saddam Hussein’s against Israel or Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s against Jews. His most recent attack on Armenia proper shows that Aliyev’s rhetoric is not simply bombast – not any more than Saddam Hussein’s reference of Kuwait as a nineteenth province was. Simply put, Aliyev is a racist and is ideologically committed to Armenia’s eradication. So too are many in Turkey. Erdogan ally and Great Unity Party leader Mustafa Destici tweeted on Sept. 15, “We say to the Armenian administration: Make up your mind: I remind you once again that the Turkish Nation has the power to erase Armenia from history and geography, and that they stand at the limit of our patience.” Neither Erdogan nor Aliyev denounced him. That Azerbaijani cargo planes, meanwhile, shuttled between Baku and Tel Aviv before the latest Azeribaijani assault deserves explanation. Perhaps the trade was innocent, but the fact that similar flights occurred before the September 2020 attack is suspicious. 

Time to Speak Up About Azerbaijan

Traditionally, Jewish groups and Israel discounted the Armenian genocide, because they believed it would detract from the Holocaust. This is false. Both events were evil, unique, and interrelated. Many Jewish groups now acknowledge this.  

Both Armenians and Israeli Jews are surrounded by forces who seek their eradication. Rather than provide cover for Azerbaijan as Aliyev descends into a rabbit hole of hate, Israel should use its leverage with Aliyev to warn him that he risks transforming Azerbaijan into a pariah state. To be Erdogan’s mini-me as the Turkish leader enters his final years does Azerbaijan a disservice. Silence and excuses enable Aliyev’s increasingly erratic behavior. 

There may be some practical reason why Israeli officials do not speak up. They may fear that Aliyev could turn on Azerbaijan’s shrinking Jewish population, essentially treating them as hostages in the same manner that Erdogan and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei do. Likewise, Israel may fear that Aliyev will turn against them and side with Iran. Either reality, however, would be a tacit acknowledgement that Aliyev is not the secular and tolerant opponent to the Islamic Republic they make him out to be. Simply put, for Israel to associate itself with a dictator increasingly intent on Armenian cultural eradication, ethnic cleansing, and genocide will be a stain not easily removed.   

The delegation led by the Speaker of the National Assembly, the man who spit on citations Alen Simonyan, will leave for France on a working visit on July 10-13.

In the thirteen-person delegation, only four are deputies, among them Armen Rustamyan, deputy of the “Hayastan” faction.

Let’s remind you that on July 3-6, the Speaker of the National Assembly was sent to Poland with a delegation of the same number.

During 5 working days, the Hayakve initiative collected 14,800 signatures. Avetik Chalabyan, a member of the Hayakve movement, announced this a little while ago. He also referred to an assertion that, according to Chalabyan, was made by NDB representatives.

According to it, Hayakven is a project to cut off Artsakh from Armenia. Chalabyan advised to read the legislative initiative and its rationale.

More details in the video.

Naira Vanyan

To hraparak.am’s question as to why the force that speaks of internal solidarity and unity, which is also in favor of the regime change, did not join the opposition movement that took to the streets after November 9, 2020, the public struggle, NDB council member Zhirayr Sefilyan answered:

“There is no political field in the classical sense in Armenia, our country is governed by a semi-colonial system. Therefore, there is no need to wait for a healthy atmosphere. Why didn’t we join, didn’t we support, because we were sure that the forces that came to the streets formally, their goal did not change? We have been witnessing for two or three years that Moscow is activating its fifth column in order to suppress Pashinyan’s government, make it more manageable, and extract what it wants from it. The 44-day war is before our eyes, after that. Taking the people to the streets was provoked by Moscow. And an independent, Armenian-centric force like ours could not provide any assistance to such processes. On the contrary, we went out to the streets in parallel, and many have noticed. Since the absolute majority of mass media was in their hands,

Vakhtang Siradeghyan

I am surprised at the naivety of our former ministers and generals. People understand that Nikol puts the blame on anyone to justify himself, but they try to prove that they are innocent through government structures (for example, the NA investigative committee).

In that regard, former Minister of Defense D. Tonoyan, and former commander of the Armed Forces M. Arzumanyan. It is clear that they will not be given such an opportunity. Because in that case, it will be clear that the reason for the shameful defeat of the 44-day war is not this or that commander or the 12 thousand “deserters”, but only one person: Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. If I’m not mistaken, this is not the first such proposal by Davit Tonoyan, there has been one (or more). And, of course, to be rejected. Today’s request and all future similar applications will be rejected in the same way.

Humanly, of course, the anxiety of Tonoyan, who previously occupied a high position, or those who assumed great responsibility, is understandable. Anxiety about their name and dignity. However, the whole problem is that the prime minister and commander-in-chief said goodbye to those human qualities a long time ago. And if they don’t have any meaning for him, then how can they have in the case of his subordinates? And, accordingly, they cannot be given an opportunity to preserve their honor and dignity. This is what is not realized by smart people like Davit Tonoyan and Mikael Arzumanyan.

By the way, the reaction of Armine Ohanyan, editor-in-chief of “Hraparak” daily, to my post on Facebook was also very human. “What should they do, dear Vakhtang… how to protect themselves from this bespredel”, and my answer: “I don’t know, it was supposed to be done in February 2021.” Indeed, the resolution of the issue was in the hands of the military after the ignominious defeat of the 44-day war. Of course, it was initially in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief, at least in the form of a resignation. Although the hero and leader of the spring events of 2018 had to think of another option first…

But life showed that he was not the hero and leader that he tried to be five years ago. On the contrary, after signing the tripartite declaration, hiding in the bunker, he took revenge on his supporters, formed “Guardians of the Revolution” gangs, which lived in his residence for days. Forgetting that two and a half years ago his supporters were almost the entire population. And the younger part of his supporters he himself led to death on the altar of the god.

Anyway, let’s go back to the Armenian generals. in 2021 on February 25, they should not have announced that the continuation of Nikol’s prime ministership is a threat to Armenian statehood, but they should have eliminated that threat. Generally, this is done at critical moments in normal states. But ours is different, and it was also shown in that issue. The generals announced, and a person who is a threat to the state forcibly gathered his supporters in the square and dismissed all the generals. And the country reached this milestone. when he hands over Artsakh and Armenian territories to the enemy… he puts his own guilt on the generals, simultaneously depriving them of the opportunity to justify themselves. By the way, blaming the defeat on the generals acting during the war, Nikol instructs the President of RA to generate new generals from the circle of colonels.

Meanwhile, the lower class of Armenia repeats the words of a person who is a threat to the state: “One meter from the Black Lake, one meter from the other, what’s the difference?” Then they attack everyone, including women, saying “why don’t you volunteer?” In fact, there is no government in Armenia anymore, nor one of the attributes of that government, the army. And the Black Lake should have been guarded not by the army, but by volunteers. Well, the idol of this mass gave the order for the army to cede the area of ​​Black Lake to the enemy. And these are sure that their idol cannot make a mistake. That’s how we live…

Replacing reality with PR is an evil act; and if a senior official is engaged in it, he becomes evil. Serzh Sargsyan, the third President of Armenia, told this to reporters Friday, referring to the fact that the parliamentary inquiry committee investigating the circumstances of the 44-day war in 2020 blames the former Armenian authorities, pointing to the Madrid and Kazan documents.

“Second, slandering others to save one’s own skin is immoral. And there was a very, very large dose of slandering. Third, psychologists say that liars eventually come, reach a point where they begin to believe their own lies. But there is a hopeful circumstance. They also say that it is the last phase of lying. I hope that we are in the last phase,” he said.

Sargsyan assured that internal processes are expected in Armenia, and there cannot but be such processes.

“And to seriously answer a man who publicly admits that the [Armenian] military deceived him more than ten times during the 44-day war. Can you imagine, a man who can be deceived ten times and he does not sense it? That is, what management ability should such a person have? Or what knowledge should such a person have? Our whole tragedy lies in this; in nothing else,” said Armenia’s third president, referring to PM Nikol Pashinyan.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia arrived in Georgia on a working visit.

Levan Davitashvili, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, welcomed the Armenian PM at Batumi International Airport.

A meeting between Pashinyan and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili is planned today. First, the leaders of the two countries will have a private conversation, and then an extended meeting will be held.