Azernews.Az

Elnur Enveroglu

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As Armenia enters a volatile and tense pre-election cycle, the air is thick with the competing rhetorics of a fractured political landscape. From the halls of Yerevan to the border villages, opposition groups and burgeoning political parties are jostling for position, each offering a different panacea for the nation’s post-war malaise. However, amidst this democratic clamour, a familiar and shadow-laden voice has re-emerged to claim the mantle of the "saviour." Robert Kocharyan, the former president, has seized upon the pre-election fervour to launch a campaign built on a breathtakingly bold revision of history.

In a recent interview, Kocharyan claimed that had his "Karabakh clan" remained at the helm, the 2020 war would never have occurred. To hear him tell it, his tenure was a golden age of "guaranteed peace." It is a cynical attempt to exploit the current political uncertainty by a man whose political DNA is inextricably linked to the very conflict he now claims he could have avoided.

The reality, visible to anyone not blinded by revanchism, is that the 44-day war was not a failure of current diplomacy, but the inevitable collapse of the corrupt, reactionary system Kocharyan himself built. Alongside his successor Serzh Sargsyan, Kocharyan headed a military junta that defined itself through occupation and radicalism. For decades, this clique treated the occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani territory not as a temporary geopolitical friction, but as a permanent foundation for their power and personal enrichment.

Besides, to call a thirty-year forced occupation "peace" requires a pathological imagination. Under Kocharyan, peace was merely the silence of the displaced. His regime was responsible for the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their ancestral homes and the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. This was not a system of governance; it was a system of reaction, an irtica (reactionary) system, that brought nothing but tragedy to the region and, ultimately, to the Armenian people themselves.

Kocharyan is one of the primary ideologues of a war that paved the way for the tragedy of two nations. There is blood on his hands, and the blood of thousands rests upon his legacy. His claims of "stability" ignore the fact that his regime thrived on aggressive expansionism and the systematic dehumanisation of his neighbours.

So, how did the Kocharyan-Sargsyan system collapse?

As Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has frequently noted, the 2020 war was not merely a territorial dispute; it was a clinical dismantling of the system established by the Kocharyan-Sargsyan duo. The 44-day war was directed against this occupying and reactionary apparatus. It was a rejection of a junta that prioritised military expansion over the welfare of its own citizens. Azerbaijan’s victory was, in many ways, a victory over a specific brand of 20th-century militancy that had no place in a modern, stable Caucasus.

Kocharyan’s recent posturing suggests a thirst for a comeback on a wave of revanchism. He, alongside figures like Samvel Karapetyan, seems to believe that the doors to power can be pried open once more. But the world, and more importantly the region, cannot afford the resurrection of such a toxic ideology.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan has made its position unequivocally clear: any attempt to restore this reactionary system or pursue new plans of occupation will be met with decisive preventive measures. The "reality" of 1988-1990, which was defined by chaos and ethnic cleansing, will not be allowed to repeat. Azerbaijan reserves the right to use its strength and determination to thwart any intentions that threaten regional security or the hard-won peace perspective. This is not mere rhetoric; it has been stated at the highest levels.

If Kocharyan continues to romanticise his bloody legacy, he may find that history catches up with him in ways he did not anticipate. Those currently facing justice in Baku serve as a stark reminder that the era of impunity for the junta is over. Should it be necessary, Kocharyan himself may one day face the same fate as those currently answering for their crimes in an Azerbaijani court.

The Armenian people now stand at a crossroads. They can choose the path of development, trade, and genuine stability, or they can listen to the siren song of a man who mistakes a frozen conflict for a lasting peace. For the sake of the future, the ghosts of the past must remain exactly where they belong: in the archives of a failed and bloody history. The regional security and the agreements reached must be the priority, and Azerbaijan has both the power and the resolve to ensure that the revanchists never again hold the reins of destiny.