Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as blind alley for Nikol Pashinyan
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
For Nikol Pashinyan is much easier to speak in the squares than to deal with the Karabakh issue. The Armenian PM tried to avoid this topic for a long time, but had to participate in the process.
Pashinyan has turned out in a strange situation. He claims that he will not negotiate for Karabakh, but negotiations are already underway, and Pashinyan is participating in them.
This situtaion clarifies that the power in Armenia has changed, but nothing has changed in the negotiation format. Obviously, Pashinyan got confused himself and confused others in the Karabakh issue.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin visited Armenia on January 29-30, but it is noteworthy that he spent almost half a day talking with his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.
Political analyst Yervand Bozoyan believes that Karasin’s visit was intended to clarify the not quite clear position of Armenia on Karabakh question. He considers, Russia wants to understand what to expect in the near future and what is the position of Armenia in the framework of negotiations.
As for the OSCE Minsk Group, each co-chair country tried to undertake the main mediation mission. Washington, Paris and Moscow constantly replaced each other. However, neither Moscow nor Washington understand the current position of Yerevan.
Nikol Pashinyan found himself in a difficult situation. On the one hand, he does not want to continue the policy of the former regime in the Karabakh issue, since he understands that this is a direct way to the destruction of Armenia. On the other hand, he has already understood that nationalists would not allow him to deviate from the course of the "Karabakh clan".
Pashinyan is a companion of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who has a very clear and reasoned position on the Karabakh settlement. For this position, he once lost power, and Pashinyan today afraid to experince the same fate.
Nevertheless, he is increasingly attracting associates of the first president to his team. Big noise, for example, created the appointment of Vladimir Karapetyan, the head of the press service of the prime minister of a man from the inner circle of Ter-Petrosyan.
At the end of last week, Pashinyan confused and alarmed his public and expert community completely.
“We cannot discuss the formula of “territory for peace”. Our government pursues a policy in the Karabakh settlement that no government has pursued. If someone tries to draw parallels with previous political policies, I will say right away that this is a delusion," he said.
It’s hard to imagine a position that would be more controversial. Pashinyan demands not to draw parallels with the previous authorities and states that he is pursuing a different policy in the Karabakh issue. In fact, Pashinyan did not explain what is his strategy.
The Armenian leader sees that the processes are rapidly developing not in favor of Armenia. He also realizes that an attempt to slow them down can be costly for his country. Pashinyan would like to remain in history as the prime minister who resolved the Karabakh issue. But this is unrealistic with the current controversial rhetoric of the Armenian authorities.
Anyway, Nikol will not be able to evade participation in the process. If he does not want to deal with the Karabakh issue-the Karabakh issue will deal with him.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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