Three Options Must Be Chosen: Ghazinyan Reveals What They Are

Former Armenian MP Arthur Ghazinyan writes: “It feels like déjà vu. It seems as if we have already been through all of this once before. In September 2013, Armenia was awaiting the signing of the EU Association Agreement, as the EU promised to allocate 4 billion euros to Armenia through a donors' conference.

Prior to that, high-ranking officials including the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the President of the European Commission, Barroso, visited Armenia, while Fule and Leichak barely left Armenia.

On September 3, 2013, at that time President Serzh Sargsyan visited Moscow, where the decision to join the Customs Union was announced, effectively putting an end to Armenia's “Euro-hope,” and it later became clear that Armenia’s “Ukrainization” scenario was canceled.

Now we are again swept away by the Brussels winds, delegations from Western countries are visiting Armenia, and we are being fed a lot of sweet promises, large sums of money, and investments in the economy. In short, we are in the same situation as in 2013. Perhaps the only difference is the 44-day treacherous war, the occupation of most of Artsakh, the seizure of Armenian territory by Azerbaijan, and the very strange and uncharacteristic behavior of Russia as our strategic partner.

Feeling hurt and disappointed by the Russian authorities and their ‘revengeful’ approach, Armenia is now ready to sign the EU proposed agreement, which essentially means a factual abandonment of Artsakh, containing serious challenges and threats.

The decision made by the Armenian authorities in 2013 was heavily criticized, including by me, but subsequent geopolitical developments indicated that this decision was correct, serving Armenia’s security and economic interests, allowing it to avoid the Ukrainian scenario, which could have led to colonization by Turkey or, more realistically, to a battlefield of the Iran-Turkey war.

Today we are almost in the same situation: we must choose one of three options. Sign the peace agreement proposed by Brussels, sign the agreement proposed by Moscow, or not sign any document, which requires a change of the chief negotiator—Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation.

If you ask my opinion, I would clearly choose the third option, as the other two do not serve Armenia's interests. If that does not succeed, then Moscow's proposal is more preferable for me, as the third option leads to Armenia being colonized by Turkey.

P.S. The Russo-Turkish situational alliance will come to an end in the coming months, which will create a new situation in our region, bringing new opportunities and serious threats for Armenia...