The Armenian Government Has Principally Agreed to Soviet-Era Maps and Borders: Arman Abovyan

Former deputy Arman Abovyan writes:

“What is actually happening around Armenia and Artsakh? In short, amidst all the 'long-winded' processes, there is a clear common thread leading towards the political delegitimization of the Republic of Artsakh and the serious threat of de facto consolidation of the occupation of Armenia’s territories, leading to a further fragmentation of our country. Why?

Look, let’s clearly fix the situation regarding Artsakh: since November 9, 2020, we have not heard a single expression, word, or hint from the Armenian authorities that was imbued with the thesis of Artsakh’s RIGHTFUL and UNCONDITIONAL independence. Instead, we hear that 'the issue of Artsakh must be resolved under the principles of the Helsinki Act, which contains provisions about 'the self-determination of peoples'. However, as the classics would say, 'the devil is in the details,' and in this case, it is evident that Armenia's excessively pacifist authorities are systematically leading towards a situation where the issue of Artsakh will be viewed in the future as an internal issue of Azerbaijan, and in this context, 'on paper', the maximum degree of self-determination for Artsakh will be 'cultural autonomy within Azerbaijan' or some other variant that will definitively close the question of the existence of Artsakh and the Armenian people of Artsakh.

As for the current and future occupation of Armenian sovereign territories by the Turks and Azerbaijanis, different mechanisms will be applied here, namely delimitation and demarcation. It is quite convincing and serious to discuss the 'principles' on which the infamous delimitation and demarcation processes between us and the Turkic-speaking states (Azerbaijan) should be carried out; however, the authorities of the Republic of Armenia have fundamentally already agreed that the borders of Armenia will not be determined based on the principles of fully ensuring the security of the Armenian people and state, but rather on some Soviet-era maps and borders. This is simply unacceptable, as the territorial division of republics within the USSR was constructed around the idea of one state, which did not reflect the security component among the republics that were part of the USSR.

In other words, Armenia today will be guided by a set of tools that completely disregards our Homeland's security system and will at a minimum put us in total economic and logistic dependency on the constraints imposed by Turks and Azerbaijanis.

The logic of the authorities is as follows: to agree to effectively surrender the vital regional and security interests of Armenia and Artsakh in exchange for supposedly obtaining 'unblocking' and 'peace'. This variant of the authorities could lead to quite the opposite consequences of achieving peace, and by actually handing over the control of external logistic routes to the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem, the Armenian authorities will bring about a situation where we collectively will simply become a service staff for a pan-Turkic terrestrial 'portal' (Azerbaijan + Syunik + Nakhchivan + Turkey direction).

In short, what is happening today under the guise of 'peace initiatives' is actually brewing mid-term consequences of such negativity that it is hard to even imagine. At a minimum, war will become inevitable in the future if events continue to develop under the current authorities' line of action, as the Turks and Azerbaijanis are not solely interested in a road or corridor; they need UNCONDITIONAL direct land connectivity without 'mediators' and regional obstacles. The most ridiculous thing is that neither the Turks nor the Azerbaijanis hide their ultimate aim, to put it mildly, to 'neutralize' their hindering Armenian factor in the region, and that Armenian factor is Armenia, Artsakh, and us, all of us.”