PASHA's Reaction is a Failure for the Organization: Pashinyan

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, addressed the National Assembly, discussing the government's failures in 2021, specifically mentioning the incursion of Azerbaijani units into the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia in the Sotk-Khoznavar area on May 12, 2021. He considered this an operational and strategic failure of the Armenian government and armed forces, but added that the way the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) responded to the incident was also a failure of that organization.

“Why did this failure occur? To answer this question, it is necessary to consider the events that preceded it,” Pashinyan stated. He explained that on May 10, 2021, the Armenian National Assembly was dissolved, and the country entered a period of snap parliamentary elections. Two days later, the incursion was motivated by an attempt to paralyze state institutions and create chaos during and after the elections, exerting specific influence on the election results. It can be stated directly that this was also an attack on the democracy of Armenia.

However, the context of the May incursion remains incomplete without considering the events of February, when the Armenian armed forces' chief staff explicitly intervened in politics by issuing a statement demanding the government’s resignation. Pashinyan noted that the opposition, whose former leader candidly admitted to calling on generals to aim their guns not at the enemy but at the government building, ultimately achieved its goal. He emphasized that there are forces in the military more concerned with what happens in Yerevan’s Republic Square, Baghramyan Avenue, and Melik-Adamyan Street than what is occurring on the border.

Pashinyan pointed out that the political involvement of the armed forces and their entanglement in political intrigue once again demonstrated its disastrous consequences. “When reflecting on many events retroactively, it sometimes seems that some military failures are simply necessary for certain individuals to formulate the impetus for a change of power in Armenia. Of course, this may seem conspiratorial and lacks specific evidence, but the analyses lead to such thoughts,” he added. The open appearance of several high-ranking military officials in the opposition immediately after their dismissal confirms the hypotheses he articulated ahead of the known events. Many of them today perform as opposition figures, although they bear personal responsibility for several failures for which they blame the government.

Nevertheless, it is the long-standing politicization of the army and its full involvement in corruption chains that created systemic vulnerabilities, placing Armenia at the brink of disaster. Pashinyan emphasized that this involves not only direct effects but also related consequences. Against the backdrop of this irresponsibility and political intrigue, it was recently revealed that espionage networks formed by Azerbaijan have been operating within the Armenian armed forces. This conclusion is based on the findings of the National Security Service, which have already raised serious questions,” Pashinyan elucidated.

In his view, it is clear that the paralysis of the military for about one and a half months due to politicization during February-April 2021 directly resulted in the incursion in the Sotk-Khoznavar stretch, thereby making the urgency of military reforms even more pressing. One of the primary goals of these reforms should be to professionalize the army, transforming the system of conscription into periodic gatherings of reserve forces, somewhat similar to the logic employed in the quarterly training exercises. He stressed that ideally, this should be repeated several times in a person's lifetime, at regular intervals.

Pashinyan concluded, “What occurred in the Sotk-Khoznavar area is undoubtedly a failure of the armed forces and the government. However, how the Collective Security Treaty Organization responded to these events was also a failure for the organization. Contrary to existing procedures, the CSTO has not yet made a decision to conduct monitoring of the areas in question, justifying long-standing fears in the Armenian public that this organization, of crucial importance for Armenia's security system, will do nothing in critical moments, remaining in a status of an observer. The fact is that so far, the CSTO has not addressed this situation in any form, even as an observer. Azerbaijani armed forces continue to be present in the Sotk-Khoznavar area, posing real threats to the security of the Republic of Armenia. Moreover, I would like to note that as a result of these events, the 45 square kilometers of territory that fell under occupation are unfortunately not the only ones in the Republic of Armenia. Since the early 1990s, about 70 square kilometers of territory have been in this status, and as I have said, our policy is to consider the resolution of this issue in the context of the activities of the delimitation and demarcation commission.”