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Low turnout in Armenia shows people's disappointment in Pashinyan’s promises [EXCLUSIVE]

11 December 2018 15:13 (UTC+04:00)
Low turnout in Armenia shows people's disappointment in Pashinyan’s promises [EXCLUSIVE]

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Low turnout in Armenia shows people's disappointment in Pashinyan’s promises, Evgeny Mikhailov, Russian political analyst and expert on international issues, said in an interview with Azernews.

He was commenting the results of early parliamentary elections held in Armenia on December 9.

"The low turnout of the population at the polling stations showed the new leadership of the republic in the person of Nikol Pashinyan that the people are already disappointed in his promises and do not understand where Pashinyan leads Armenia to," the expert said.

Mikhailov believes that Pashinyan urgently needs to build a dialogue primarily with Russia, which has recently also been disappointed with the anti-Russian attacks from Pashinyan’s supporters.

"This is the only way out. The rest of the world does not need Yerevan, and in vain the new government feels hope for some Western countries and their help. The republic will simply be sold off in parts, and the population will leave the country. Again, if Moscow does not intervene. The return of the Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan and talks on assistance from Baku, can be the way out of the crisis for Armenia, but this issue will be decided upon apparently by the government," he said.

The analyst noted that it is more difficult to build relations with Pashinyan.

"On the contrary, having pro-Western views, he is inclined to try to unleash a conflict and draw some international forces and, above all, the U.S. into it. That is, taking into account the above-mentioned facts, it can be assumed that Russia will sharply oppose this, including by increasing pressure on Yerevan in the soonest possible restoration of the protectorate of Azerbaijan in its occupied territories," said Mikhailov.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

As a result of Armenia's armed invasion into Azerbaijan's legal territory, the two neighboring countries have remained locked in a bitter territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia-backed separatists seized from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the early 1990s.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

Despite Baku's best efforts, peace in the occupied lands remains a mirage in the distance as Armenia refuses to comply with international law.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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