"Fact" daily writes:
Yesterday was December 10. Exactly 34 years ago, on that day, the NKR independence referendum took place. At that time, the Azerbaijani minority living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region refused to participate in the referendum on the instructions of Baku, which was followed by deputies of the Central Committee of the USSR and public figures. A referendum was held, the overwhelming majority of the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region voted for independence.
With the referendum declaration, it became the legal legal and political basis for the declaration of NKR independence and the establishment of statehood. And a few days ago, on December 2, i.e. one day after the end of the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group was officially announced, Nikol Pashinyan published, as he noted, "a number of documents available in state departments related to the Karabakh conflict settlement negotiation process, which give an idea of the content of the negotiation process that took place until 2020."
Of course, Pashinyan made a "mockery", under the name of "document" he even tried to "implement" something published in the newspaper he edited, which, naturally, gave rise to derisive comments. Also, certain key documents (regarding the same Key West negotiations) were missing. But he is right about one issue. published negotiating documents provide some insight. The opinions of various independent experts and commentators agreed as to why Pashinyan published those papers now. The main thing is that Pashinyan is thus trying to "wash his hands" or generally "cleanse himself" of the stigma of denying Artsakh and recognizing Artsakh as Azerbaijani territory. Well, there are elections ahead, it's understandable...
But let's go back to what was published and the ideas. In that series, we think the most important is the 2019 by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France, USA) dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. is the set of drafts of the settlement agreement and attached documents presented in June. Why do we consider it key? Everything is too simple. what the former presidents of RA negotiated, what options they discussed, who among them was closest to an agreement on the resolution of the problem, in principle, is already important only for historians and conflict studies researchers. The fact is that when Ter-Petrosyan left office, Artsakh and the liberated territories were under Armenian control. The same when Robert Kocharyan left the post.
The same when Serzh Sargsyan resigned. Artsakh was and always was Armenian.
And in 2018, power passed to Nikol Pashinyan. It happened, by the way, on May 8, a significant day for Artsakh. And precisely because we are dealing with the settlement proposals presented during Nikol Pashinyan's tenure (by the way, kept secret from the people), the aforementioned 2019 document takes on extremely important, if not key, importance. The document has been published, it is open, now everyone is waiting to see what was proposed (briefly: the return of 5 regions, a ban on the entry of Azerbaijani military forces there, international peacekeeping forces, the possibility of NKR recognition over time, Armenian control of Berdzor and Karvachar until the final agreement on the issue).
And what happened? Pashinyan and the Communist Party led by him practically rejected the proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group. It is true that Pashinyan did not publish RA's official response to the mentioned proposals. However, considering Pashinyan's statements and actions since July 2019, it can be safely said that he not only rejected those proposals, not only ignored them, but also consistently "torpedoed" them. The rejection of those proposals was, one might say, the "point of no return," after which the countdown to war in 2020 was already on. But Pashinyan and CP did not want to say anything to the public, they were busy occupying courts and, in particular, the Constitutional Court. Pashinyan himself, quite skillfully, it should be noted, played the "urra-patriot" game.
Oh, you will remember, almost immediately after receiving the aforementioned recommendations of the Minsk Group, in August 2019, in Stepanakert's Revival Square, Pashinyan shouted: "Artsakh is Armenia, and that's it." Repeating the statement made by the legendary commander Leonid Azgaldyan in 1992, Pashinyan elicited applause and sounds of enthusiasm from the crowd gathered in the square... We think that there is no need to remind about what happened afterwards. Now, Pashinyan and CP are not only shouting that "Artsakh is Armenia and that's it", but for 3 or more years they have completely denied Artsakh, achieved the complete depopulation of Artsakh, historically and for thousands of years they recognize the Armenian and Armenian-inhabited territory as Azerbaijani territory. Yes, rejecting the proposals of the Minsk Group in 2019 can be considered a point of irreversibility.
Although, later and even during the 2020 war, there were other possibilities as well. However, you will remember that Pashinyan did not want to be called a traitor, and for that selfish reason he rejected the 2020 plan to end the war. October 19 offer too. And in order not to call Pashinyan a traitor, several thousand more Armenian soldiers paid with their lives, thousands were wounded and killed. And the enemy appeared in Shushi... But even in 2020 After November 9, the problem of the existence of Artsakh and the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh was not closed.
Pashinyan considered it a great luxury for an ancient but politically immature people who tolerated him, and on October 6, 2022, with the help of Macron, Charles Michel, he closed that "vent" with Erdogan and Aliyev, recognizing Artsakh as an Azerbaijani territory. It is clear that compared to the present, all the options proposed and negotiated since 1994 may seem acceptable, even Ter-Petrosyan's "phase" one, which was rejected by the figures who are part of his own government. But that's not the point here. And it is not worth arguing about what happened 30 or 20 or 10 years ago. The key and important thing is what Pashinyan has done.
The key thing is what happened in our time, precisely as a result of the activity of this government and under the conditions. And it is happening not because Pashinyan was ignorant, naive, misunderstood, "patriotic" and so on. All that was done consciously and consistently. Aware, because everything Pashinyan has done in this matter are not just mistakes, they are not mistakes or misunderstandings. They are conscious steps that have led to the worst disaster.
And even he doesn't hide this anymore...
