This argument serves as a convenient excuse to ignore what’s right in front of them.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who suffers from chronic verbosity, frequently laments that certain provisions of the trilateral statement from November 10, 2020, are being misinterpreted, asserting that he alone can see the truth of the matter.
It’s worth noting that some representatives of this fairytale land possess a remarkable ability to be utterly sincere in their delusions. In fact, they so fiercely attempt to convince others of their erroneous beliefs that they eventually begin to wholeheartedly believe in their own absurd conclusions. One might even get the impression that the Russian military base doesn’t exist in Armenia, and the country’s borders are guarded not by Russian border guards but by some invisible force.
According to Pashinyan, he constantly witnesses the determined efforts of those who misinterpret parts of the document concerning the Zangezur Corridor. Outraged, he insists that the security of communications in Armenia should be ensured by native Armenian forces, not external entities. These patented Armenian expressions of public outcry continue to spread, even though the trilateral statement clearly stipulates that Russian border guards are responsible for monitoring transportation routes.
This point remains unchanged in the document— the wording is the same, and no one has withdrawn or altered their signature. If only Baku were citing this clause, one might be inclined to question it. But when two out of the three parties can read and the third resorts to nonsensical rhetoric, it’s clear where the confusion lies. Therefore, no matter how deeply rooted Armenian rhetoric may be, it will not succeed in this case.
Instead, Armenia’s leadership should explain what kind of control they believe they can exert and how logical these plans are, considering the Prime Minister himself has admitted that large quantities of weapons disappeared after the 2020 Karabakh war.
“After the 44-day war, a large amount of weaponry went missing. We even discussed this issue in a Security Council meeting. We have developed a new method with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to locate these weapons, and there have been some successes,” Pashinyan stated.
Moreover, according to Armenian media, crime rates in Armenia are rising. It’s no surprise that the authorities are struggling to contain the criminal gangs, possibly those who fled from Karabakh, or to stop the illegal arms trade. But what’s surprising is how Pashinyan expects to control strategically important sites when crime and lawlessness reign within the country. With such a high crime rate, it would be wise for Armenian leaders to express daily gratitude to the very third party ensuring order along the route.
In addition, it would be prudent to remind Mr. Prime Minister about the November 2021 attack on an Azerbaijani post near the city of Shusha, when Armenian militant Norayr Mirzoyan threw a grenade at Azerbaijani and Russian soldiers. We cannot be certain that similar incidents won’t happen again.
Given these kinds of threats, which the Armenian authorities lack both the resources and the genuine intent to address, Baku opposes the idea of allowing Armenian forces to control the Zangezur Corridor. Armenia should first bring order to its own affairs, learn to take responsibility for its words, and honor its agreements before dictating terms. Armenians seem to believe they can sign their name on an important document and then conveniently back out of fulfilling its provisions, trying to convince others that only their version of the truth matters. But reality doesn’t work that way.
As long as revanchist forces continue to thrive in Armenia and calls for absurd, destabilizing actions persist—actions that contradict peace-building efforts—no one will trust Yerevan. Provocations can occur at any moment. A rogue actor unable to secure its own safety cannot be expected to guarantee the security of others.
Alla Zeydullayeva
Translated from minval.az
