Pashinyan implements provocative idea to raise his rating
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
From the beginning of the current year, the popularity of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been rapidly vanishing. According to opinion polls, his rating dropped below 40 percent, which is actually a catastrophe for Pashinyan, because during the velvet revolution he got approximately one hundred percent support from the Armenian society.
In order to somehow raise his rating, Pashinyan resorts to all sorts of attempts. On August 6, an illegal sports competition, aiming to bring together Armenian sportsmen from various countries, is scheduled to kick-off in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. On August 2, Pashinyan informed the Armenian society about his intention to visit the occupied Azerbaijani city of Khankendi.
Thus, Pashinyan is going to increase his own rating. Provocative games in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh are a very convenient reason to present himself as a patriot in front of the Armenians.
However, Pashinyan forgets his own statements. He previous said that Armenia has nothing to do with Nagorno-Karabakh, that “this is a separate “state” with its “attributes of statehood””. Therefore, declaring the central square of occupied Khankendi as a meeting place contradicts to his previous statements. In fact, Pashinyan openly demonstrates who is the occupier of Nagorno-Karabakh and shows that he refuses to negotiate and intends to continue to sabotage the peace process.
Meanwhile, the number of athletes coming to the provocative event in Nagorno-Karabakh continues to decrease. It has become known that Armenian sportsmen from Turkey will not attend the games. The main reason for non-participating is the fact that the games will be organized in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. This circumstance has put the athletes in a difficult situation.
Moreover, the Iranian delegation also will not participate in the event – the reason is the same. Obviously, the Iranian authorities do not wish to spoil relations with Azerbaijan.
The Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan informed journalists that taking into account the friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, the embassy will do everything possible to prevent Iranian athletes from participating in these games.
Besides, Georgian athletes of Armenian origin were prohibited to participate at the event to be held in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
Valeri Stelmashov, Head of Education, Cultural, Sport, Tourism and Youth Affairs Department of Georgia’s Akhalkalaki Municipality, said that athletes will only take part in the competitions to be held in Armenia.
Thus, Armenia’s neighbors have ignored the illegal sports event to be held in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, which once again shows that the world community recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijani lands and sees Armenia as the occupier country.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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