“Armenia is not able to protect Karabakh. Prevent the war - the duty of peacekeepers " - expert • The Insider • RIMA — Russian Independent Media Archive
“Armenia is not able to protect Karabakh. Prevent the war - the duty of peacekeepers " - expert
September 20, 2023
The Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said that Yerevan would not begin military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh, who was attacked by the army of Azerbaijan on September 19. As a political scientist, an economist, senior researcher at the Caucasus Institute (Yerevan) Grant Mikaelyan, the Pashinyan government has long been pursuing a policy of refusing the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in an interview with The Insider, which led to a significant decrease in the popularity of the prime minister from the population.
“Pashinyan, of course, lost folk support, as evidenced by hundreds of polls and elections to the Council of Elders Yerevan, at which the Pashinyan party received four times less votes in absolute numbers than five years ago. But he completely controls the bureaucratic apparatus, and I do not think that there is a chance of its overthrow, at least in the short term.
It is Pashinyan’s policy in relation to Nagorno -Karabakh that causes serious discontent. Pashinyan actually recognized the NK as part of Azerbaijan, but, according to polls by public opinion conducted at different times, from 89% to 97% of the population of Armenia against the recognition of the NK as part of Azerbaijan. The question is - how this discontent will be expressed, whether it will be directed in a certain direction or it will be chaotic episodic actions. There are opposition groups that want to organize a consolidated protest, but it is difficult to say as far as they are capable of it.
The probability that Armenia will now be seriously involved in this conflict is very low. The armed forces of Armenia are weak, and even their intervention will not radically change the situation. At the moment, Russia is the main responsibility for the world in Nagorno -Karabakh. There are Russian peacekeepers. And today these peacekeepers should intervene and prevent the war. There is no other way. Otherwise, it turns out that Russian peacekeepers are accomplices in Azerbaijani aggression. ”
On the evening of September 19, rallies were held in Yerevan near the government building and the Russian Embassy with a demand to prevent the war in Nagorno -Karabakh. According to the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh, as of the end of the day, the battles continue along the entire line of contact. The army of Azerbaijan "continues to use artillery and missiles." According to the Ombudsman of the Nagorno -Karabakh, Gegam Stepanyan, 27 people were killed, including two civilians, more than 200 people were injured.
