The official Iravan’s openly declaring the recognition of Garabagh in all its statements as an integral part of Azerbaijan, finally created reasonable hopes for the signing of a peace agreement.
There even were optimistic predictions regarding the signing of the peace agreement by the end of 2023.
However, in the fall of 2023, the expectations of Azerbaijan and the world community about the signing of a peace treaty were violated by Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his team once again.
The Armenia MFA’s delaying its response to the package of proposals on the peace treaty of Azerbaijan for more than 2 months, Armenia’s desires like conducting peace talks without the participation of Russia, on platforms in Europe with the participation of third countries, etc. created an inhibitory effect in the process.
In parallel with this, the Armenian authorities, while talking about their commitment to peace, continued to arm themselves and carry out reforms in the army. Throughout 2023, a number of agreements were signed for the purchase of arms from India and France. In particular, from India, which is seen as an alternative to the Russian arms market, from bullets and grenades, anti-tank “Konkurs-M” missiles, 90 units of 150 mm “ATAGS” howitzers, 80 mm artillery pieces and 4 batteries of the “Pinaka” rocket launcher system. received. Currently, Armenia is working on plans to purchase the Akash medium-range anti-aircraft missile complex, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and countermeasures systems from this country.
Moreover, Armenia purchased 3 GM 200 radar systems, and 50 Bastion 24 armored vehicles from France, and signed an agreement on the future purchase of Mistral short-range air defense systems.
Armenia, which is talking about peace and regional stability, is artificially delaying the signing of the peace treaty and rapidly going to militarization.
As if this were not enough, official Yerevan plans to set aside an additional $500 million in reserve funds for defense needs in addition to its approved military spending of $1.4 billion for 2024. However, instead of providing social welfare, Pashinyan’s government increased its military spending to 2 billion dollars.
In this regard, the views expressed by Nikol Pashinyan on January 28 were rich with hints that the official Yerevan peace agenda is fake and drifting towards revanchism.
In his speech, Pashinyan stated that in recent years, Armenia has signed multibillion-dollar arms contracts with foreign countries and has given orders to its military industry worth several hundred million dollars.
He also reminded that women continue to be recruited into the army, the reserve forces of the army are being formed, and for this, 25-day military training sessions are held regularly.
Nikol Pashinyan clearly emphasizes that Armenia is proceeding towards militarization, but in parallel makes populist and impossible-to-realize proposals to Azerbaijan, supposedly aimed at reducing tensions.
These include the withdrawal of troops from the border based on a mirror effect, border demilitarization, mutual arms control mechanism, and non-aggression pact.
Nikol Pashinyan himself understands well that his proposals are absurd and unrealistic to implement. On the contrary, he wants to cover the militarization policy as “self-defense” and appear as a peace initiator in the eyes of the international community.
But of course, these primitive diplomatic games of his are seen clearly both by Baku and the other regional players. This was reflected in the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan regarding Pashinyan’s proposals as well.
“Armenia’s claim that it takes the peace process seriously is political manipulation in light of the abovementioned facts, as well as Prime Minister Pashinyan’s statement regarding the severe militarization of his country, the recent signing of multibillion-dollar contracts for arms supply, and the expansion of the military industry. Such biased statements impede the further development and progress of the region based on respect for the norms and principles of international law,” says the Ministry’s statement.
Thus, Armenia, which tends to revanchism under the influence of its foreign patrons, is trying to create artificial obstacles to the peace agenda and in fact, sabotage the negotiations. Pashinyan’s continuation of this policy will not only leave Armenia in an eternal dead end but may also lead to the fact that it will once again see the power of the iron fist.
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