Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

U.S. President Donald Trump sent a congratulatory letter to Nikol Pashinyan on his appointment as Prime Minister, which caused concern in Armenian circles.

The letter said that the U.S. assists prosperous, democratic and peacefuly coexisting with its neighbors Armenia.

Further, there was noted an opportunity to record progress in deepening trade and economic ties between the two countries, strengthening world security and in the fight against corruption. At the end of the letter, it is emphasized that a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict will contribute to these efforts.

The message was not perceived in Armenia as a protocol greeting. Armenian media and analysts saw literally in every line instructions and hints to Yerevan, especially regarding the Karabakh conflict and Washington’s expectations in this regard from Armenia.

According to Armenian media reports, the nessage was of very poor quality, and gave to understand that Armenia is not a country that coexists peacefully with its neighbors. Another impression was that the Armenian-American agenda wouldn’t really exist unless Nikol Pashinyan resolves the Karabakh problem.

Armenia is indeed a destabilizing factor in the region and is not able to coexist peacefully with its neighbors. In the same way, the American-Armenian agenda is indeed empty, and it can be filled with content only when Armenia stops the occupation of Azerbaijani territories. Not because Baku has agreed on this with Washington, but because an isolated and aggressive state simply cannot be a good partner and be interesting to anyone.

Speaking about the reasons for the appearance of such a message, the mass media reminds that an unbearable vacuum reigned in Armenian-American relations since the velvet revolution. So, despite the visit of Armenian National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan to the U.S. to organize the Pashinyan-Trump meeting within the framework of the UN General Assembly, the meeting did not take place.

The most terrible thing was that shortly before Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also spoke about the Karabakh settlement, who also hinted to Yerevan about the need for an early settlement.

It is easy to see that in this and in another case, sarcasm sounds to Yerevan.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs statement after the Paris meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers finally knocked the Armenian side out of the comfort zone to which the occupying country got used to during the years of occupation.

In particular, the statement speaks of the need to take concrete measures to prepare the population for peace, as well as the importance of possible mutually beneficial initiatives aimed at realizing the economic potential of the region.

American political analyst Paul Stronski, commenting on the thesis of preparing peoples for peace, said that this is a new phenomenon, and he does not remember statements with such language during the last years of the negotiation process. He considers, this gives grounds to note that something has changed at the parties.

Stronski said that parties did not discuss the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements in Dushanbe since a decision was made to replace these agreements, and it works, taking into account the current situation on the contact line and at the border.

Thus, the congratulatory message of Donald Trump to Pashinyan clearly indicates what exactly Washington expects from Yerevan. And it scares Armenia the most.

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

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