If we continue to tolerate Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister of Armenia, war will be just around the corner and in the territory of Armenia, and as a result, we may lose Syunik Province. This is what former deputy defense minister Artak Zakaryan told reporters today.

According to him, the army is extremely sensitive, and the statement by the General Staff of the Armed Forces on the need for the resignation of the Cabinet is linked to these risks.

Zakaryan added that the Armed Forces see that the next war will be inevitable, if things continue at this rate. “I’m almost certain that there will be a war. Baku and Ankara still have a big appetite for Armenia. Aliyev is making threats with regard to the “Zangezur corridor”, and the Turkish government’s statements supporting Pashinyan go to show that the latter’s actions aren’t in Armenia’s interests,” the ex-deputy minister noted, adding that Armenians need to make Pashinyan resign, if they want to avoid a war.

Human rights activist Ruben Melikyan says Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan should not have accepted his dismissal as chief of the army’s General Staff instead of challenging its legality in the Administrative Court.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Gasparyan was automatically relieved of his post by virtue of law.

“It was incomprehensible to me that yesterday former General Staff Chief Onik Gasparyan admitted that his duties were terminated,” Melikyan told a news conference on Thursday, referring to the recent developments around the General Staff.

According to the human rights activist, there were lawyers who insisted that Onik Gasparyan could and should have remained in office, but the senior army officer instead decided to apply to the Administrative Court to challenge the legality of Pashinyan’s order to fire him.

Ruben Melikyan said that many people had different expectations from the military, particularly Onik Gasparyan, adding there were people who warned against heroizing them not to be “bitterly disappointed” later.

Reflecting on Nikol Pashinyan’s meeting with the military’s top brass on Wednesday, Ruben Melikyan first noted that the military has nothing to do with PR and could not imagine that their move to stand up for a moment to greet Pashinyan would be presented in such a way that they allegedly greeted him very warmly.

“But according to the information I obtained, the military has raised rather sharp questions. But it does not seem to matter at all. It’s just that those people [senior officers] have no idea about PR, that’s why they fell into the trap. However, I think that person [Pashinyan] is not worthy of even a five-second reception. I have a much more radical position on this issue and believe that people dealing with the main culprit of our national disaster are not worthy of a handshake,” he said.

The human rights activist said it is time for people to take risky steps, especially when there is nothing to lose anymore.

“We have lost our homeland, our compatriots … our dignity. We can no longer walk with our heads held high as we have lost that right. If we do not restore our dignity, it is too early to talk about the rest,” he said.

Commenting on the attitude of President Armen Sarkissian on the matter, Melikyan said that the role of the president was negative.

“He shouldn’t have taken any step other than to challenge Pashinyan’s decision to the Constitutional Court, because he had confirmed that it was unconstitutional. This means the president of the country has been discredited,” he added.

By Paul Antonopoulos

Two days before the Turkish-sponsored invasion and war of Nagorno-Karabakh began on September 27, Greek City Times revealed that Turkey was transferring Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan.

This was denied by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry when asked by Greek City Times, but now there has been irrefutable evidence, including photographs, videos, captured mercenaries and testimonies.

Now it appears that Azerbaijan is preparing for a new war, this time a direct invasion of areas of Armenia.

Although Azerbaijan, with assistance from Syrian mercenaries and Turkish special forces, recaptured seven districts surrounding the former Soviet Union’s Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast from Armenian personnel, it appears that a new conflict is about to breakout. After a humiliating loss due to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s unpreparedness and/or disinterest in maintaining control over the seven districts, a direct land route was supposedly granted to Azerbaijan so it can access its Nakhchivan exclave via a corridor through Armenia’s Syunik province, which Azerbaijani’s call Zangezur. This was supposedly agreed upon with the signing of the November 10 trilateral (Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia) ceasefire agreement.

Monte Melkonian, a Lieutenant Colonel from the first Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994), said in the early 1990’s that if Armenians lost Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, they would next lose Syunik Province, the thin strip of land separating Azerbaijan-proper from Nakhchivan.

He stated that “If we lose [Karabakh], we turn the final page of our people’s history.” He believed that if Azerbaijani forces succeeded in deporting Armenians from Karabakh, they would then advance on Syunik and other regions of Armenia. If Azerbaijan were to capture Syunik province, this would not only connect Azerbaijan-proper to Nakhchivan, but it would also give Turkey direct access to the oil and gas rich Caspian Sea and onwards to Central Asia.

Azerbaijan defends their position to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts based off United Nations resolutions. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has also maintained that his country is only interested in recapturing what it calls occupied territory.

However, Turkish and Azerbaijani nationalists have called for the occupation of Syunik province to end Nakhchivan’s detachment from Azerbaijan-proper. Many prominent Armenians warn that the long-term aim of Turkey and Azerbaijan is to create a smaller Armenian rump state based around today’s northern Armenia.

It appears that Azerbaijan is preparing for a new war to capture Syunik from Armenia.

Aliyev said during a speech at an economic conference last week that a “new transport corridor will pass through Zangezur, a historic territory of Azerbaijan, and will connect mainland Azerbaijan with its integral part, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, and Turkey.”

Ignoring Aliyev’s fallacy that Syunik is historically Azerbaijani territory, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan claimed that “with such a provocative statement, calling Zangezur an ‘historic Azerbaijani territory’ and making reference to an imaginary corridor, the President of Azerbaijan deliberately undermines the implementation of the November 9 and January 11 trilateral statements. Article 9 of the November 9 trilateral statement does not mention the establishment of a corridor.”

The Azerbaijani president said on Tuesday that “Armenia wants to obstruct the implementation of the Zangezur corridor, but they will not succeed. We will force them.” This is a clear indication that Azerbaijan is prepared to use force to open a transportation corridor through Armenian territory to connect Nakhchivan with Azerbaijan-proper. Aliyev’s statement comes as Azerbaijani media reported at the end of February that Azerbaijani Armed Forces will conduct a special operation in Karabakh. “We cannot tell you exactly which area this will happen, but there is an accumulation of military equipment on both sides,” the report said.

In another suggestion that Azerbaijan is preparing for a new military operation against Syunik province, a Turkish Boeing 737AEW&C early warning and control aircraft was circling near the border with Armenia. This is the same plane codenamed “CENAH01” which was used during the opening days of last year’s war. There are also reports that Azerbaijan is calling up reservists, while at the same time the Turkish and Azerbaijani military have conducted joint exercises near the Armenian border.

The suggestion that Azerbaijan is preparing for a new war comes at a time when it appears that Ukraine is preparing for a spring offensive against militias in Donbass. There is a possibility that Azerbaijan and Ukraine, both close allies of Turkey, could launch simultaneous operations to force Russia to make concessions on behalf of Donbass militias and Armenia. Turkey strongly emphasises that Crimea is Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and that the Tartar minority are supposedly oppressed. In addition, Turkey provides drones to the Ukrainian military and also says it will not hesitate to act against Armenia if it does not succumb to its demands.

Despite Pashinyan’s attempts to pivot Armenia away from Russia and towards the liberal West, Moscow is now helping the Armenian military reform and rearm. Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan told RIA Novosti that “conducting military reform in Armenia isn’t just planned, but is already being carried out, and our Russian colleagues are directly involved in this process.” According to him, the main efforts will be directed to the development of control systems, intelligence, electronic warfare, air defense and unmanned aircraft, missile forces and artillery.

In response, Aliyev said that Russia should not help Armenia modernize its army or provide new weapons.

More importantly, Armenia is a member-state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). If Armenia is attacked by a non-member state, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia would be obligated to provide assistance.

Although it is inconceivable that Azerbaijan, even with Turkish support, would be willing to antagonize Russia into a military conflict, the question begs whether Moscow would be able to handle simultaneous conflicts in the Caucasus and Donbass if Azerbaijan and Ukraine are to launch simultaneous spring offensives, in addition to Russia’s commitments in Syria and indirectly in Libya. It is likely that Turkey would be urging Azerbaijan and Ukraine to make simultaneous actions to gain concessions from Russia, such as forcing Armenia to open a transportation corridor between Azerbaijan-proper and Nakhichevan.

Shortly after being dismissed by virtue of law as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan issued a statement saying that his dismissal is unconstitutional and that he is filing a lawsuit to the administrative court.

“My position is unchanged: both the statement [on my dismissal], as well as the entire process of the dismissal are unconstitutional, which once again affirms that the only way to ensure this crisis’ solution that would contribute to our country would be as a result of the Prime Minister’s resignation and early elections of parliament,” Gasparyan said in the statement published by the General Staff’s information department.

He said he has applied to the administrative court with the purpose of “ensuring the rule of law and the Constitution in the Republic of Armenia, and exercising the [virtue of law] based exclusively  on law.”

“I will continue my service to the country and people in another status. Dear generals, officers, and soldiers, the exclusive mission of the armed forces is to ensure the country’s security, therefore I am calling upon you to continue your selfless and [patriotic] service exclusively to your country and people, for the development of the armed forces and the strengthening of Armenia and Artsakh.”

The members of the Fatherland Salvation Movement set up tents in front of the National Assembly entrance from Demirchyan street. ARMENPRESS reports Police are mobilizing forces near the protesters.

The members of the movement announced that they have no plans to enter the National Assembly and will keep the parliament blocked unless PM Pashinyan resigns.

No one should try to enter the National Assembly building, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, the coordinator of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement, said during an opposition rally in Yerevan near parliament’s building.

At the call of the candidate for prime minister Vazgen Manukyan, the rally participants moved to block the entrances to the parliament.

“This is our next act of disobedience. (…) We will continue our protest action here. I suggest you bring two tents and put them up at the entrances,” he noted.

By Harut Sassounian

As the situation in Armenia is getting more chaotic on a daily basis, baseless accusations are becoming a common practice. It is no longer possible to distinguish fact from fiction.

Sadly, words like ‘traitor’ and ‘bought by Turks or Azeris’ are being used by Armenians to accuse fellow Armenians without a shred of evidence. We have all heard multiple times that the territories around Artsakh were given up by the former presidents long before the war and that Armenian traitors helped the enemy by disclosing our military secrets or urged soldiers to stop fighting during the war. These accusations have been repeated so often that a lot of Armenians believe them to be true. Never mind that no evidence has been presented, tarnishing the reputations of those they disagree with. If there were so many traitors during the war, how come not one such traitor has been arrested and convicted for treason?  Normally, traitors during a war are immediately arrested, convicted and shot by a firing squad.

I do not believe that there are any traitors among us nor are there Armenians who sold their soul to the enemy for a handful of dollars. These are made up stories just because we disagree with each other. Regrettably, most Armenians do not know how to carry out a civilized conversation without insulting those they disagree with.

In this analysis, I will avoid using such terms as traitor and sold out, and stick as much as possible to the facts, no matter how difficult they are to discern.

One issue that keeps coming up is the fact that the presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia seem to prefer Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over the opposition. This does not mean that Pashinyan is a traitor or is working for the interests of Armenia’s enemies. I believe that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia are siding with Pashinyan for two main reasons:

1)  All three realize that Pashinyan, defeated in the Artsakh war and having signed a capitulation document, is in no position to go against the wishes of Azerbaijan and Turkey, and especially Russia. Whereas, as a former member of the opposition, Pashinyan was totally anti-Russian, he changed his tune and supported all Russian initiatives even before the war. After the war, he is completely beholden to Putin and does not dare to deviate one bit from the Russian President’s directives. This became even more so after Pres. Putin repeatedly praised Pashinyan for signing the Nov. 10, 2020 trilateral agreement and abiding by its terms. Azerbaijan and Turkey are also satisfied that, after their defeat of Armenia, there is a leader like Pashinyan who is fully going along with the terms of the agreement.

2)  Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia also realize that should Pashinyan’s rule topple, his successor may not be as amenable to comply with the terms of the trilateral agreement. While a defeated country is in no position to contest these imposed terms, the fact that Pashinyan’s opponents are expressing their opposition to that agreement means that Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia may have to deal with a new Armenian leader who will question the terms of the agreement that the three countries consider a fait accompli. So, Aliyev, Erdogan and Putin naturally prefer to deal with Pashinyan based on their own interests rather than because Pashinyan is their ‘agent.’ At best, we can say that Pashinyan is reluctantly going along with these three leaders. At worst, he truly believes that the ceasefire agreement is in the best interest of Armenia, paving the way to the lifting of blockaded transportation routes, thus potentially boosting Armenia’s economy.

We can be on different sides of the above analysis, but one thing is very clear. Pashinyan should not cross any red lines which are totally contrary to Armenia’s national interests. It is one thing to be obligated to go along with your enemies after your defeat, but it is a whole different thing to enthusiastically comply with their wishes, mistakenly believing that the enemy’s imposed actions are in Armenia’s own interest. Aliyev and Erdogan have repeatedly stated that they are willing to allow Armenia to use their transportation routes under certain conditions which were: 1) Return Artsakh territories to Azerbaijan (which has been mostly accomplished through the use of force), 2) Recognize the existing borders of the Republic of Turkey (no more territorial demands from Turkey), and 3) Discontinue the international pursuit of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. More recently, Aliyev added a new demand: signing a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan which means that Armenia will give up claiming Artsakh as an Armenian territory.

In my view, these Azeri and Turkish demands should be rejected by Armenia’s current leaders. These are red lines that no Armenian government should cross, depriving future Armenian generations of their right to pursue the nation’s just demands.

It remains to be seen if Armenia’s next leaders will be able to find a way to minimize the losses from the war. But one thing is certain: Pashinyan must resign immediately allowing a new and more competent leadership trying to manage the catastrophic situation Armenia finds itself in.

Mediaport Telegram channel reports the following:

“According to Mediaport’s information, the authorities of Armenia have declared Head of UNICEF Armenia Country Office Marianne Clark-Hattingh persona non grata for spying in favor of Azerbaijan and Great Britain.

Clark-Hattingh is already packing her things, while the Armenian authorities want to conceal the news from the public.

Clark-Hattingh became head of UNICEF Armenia Country Office in July 2020.”

TEHRAN (FNA)- Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mojtaba Zonnouri said that his country is concerned about the instrumental use of Takfiri terrorism and transfer of ISIL terrorists from Syria to the Karabakh region.

“The reports released about transfer of the ISIL terrorists from Syria to use them in the recent conflicts are concerning,” Zonnouri said in a meeting with Armenian Ambassador to Tehran Artashes Toumanian on Monday.

He noted that presence of terrorists in the region does not benefit either Azerbaijan or Armenia or other regional states, and added, “The regional states, themselves, are able to protect the interests and security of the region, and the use of destructive streams that serve the interests of the West and the Zionists will only lead to the promotion of insecurity and instability.”

Zonnouri underscored the need for maintaining stability in the region and Armenia and respect for the international borders, and hoped for the immediate ending of turmoil in the region.

Toumanian, for his part, described Iran as an important and old neighbor of Armenia, saying, “Therefore, we welcome the Islamic Republic of Iran’s bigger role in regional developments.”

In relevant remarks in October, Iranian Army Commander Major General Seyed Abdolrahim Mousavi had voiced concern about the presence of Takfiri terrorists in Karabakh region, warning that the Iranian Armed Forces would show a strong and crushing response to any Takfiri and ISIL terrorists and Zionist that appeared at the country’s bordering areas.

The war in Nagorno-Karabakh re-erupted in late September 2020 between Armenia and Azerbaijan, becoming the worst fighting in the region in decades.

The two sides signed a ceasefire agreement to end the conflict in November 2020.

Under the agreement, Yerevan and Baku agreed on November 9 to end hostilities under a Moscow-brokered deal that secured territorial advances for Azerbaijan in Karabakh and seven surrounding districts.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been populated by ethnic Armenians.

After the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, the authorities and embassy of Azerbaijan are supporting the provocations against Armenians in Russia and are carrying out anti-Armenian propaganda. This is what Vice-President of the Union of Armenians of Russia Herman Ananyants told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to him, this has already become systemic, and even though it’s difficult to make provocations and carry out anti-Armenian propaganda in Moscow since the law-enforcement authorities are alert, there are such incidents in Russia’s regions.

Ananyants added that the Azerbaijanis immediately try to ascribe any fight or murder to Armenians and form a negative opinion in the public and brought the example of the murder of a family in one of the villages of Nizhni Novgorod that was also ascribed to Armenians.

“The man appeared later and was extremely offended by the fact that the crime had been ascribed to him. He had never been in that village and didn’t have anything to do with the murder,” Ananyants said.