European Central: Armenian Political Opposition Against Concessions to Azerbaijan
Shutterstock
Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war for six weeks over Nagorno-Karabakh in late September 2020 yet the issue is still not resolved. The armed conflict ended with Russia playing a role by sending 2,000 troops to secure the region, but the irony is that the Soviet Union created this issue in the 1920s. Back then, the Soviet Union created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region within Azerbaijan despite the fact that the majority of residents were Armenian. When the Soviet Union began to collapse, the region of Nagorno-Karabakh saw its chance to join Armenia. The legislature in Nagorno-Karabakh passed a resolution in 1988 to join Armenia. There has been pressure internationally for the issue to be resolved but nationalists in Armenia are staunchly against any significant concessions in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan however claims the region to be part of the nation and rejects any notion that the region belongs to Armenia. Internationally, the region is also recognized as part of Azerbaijan. After the six weeks of fighting in 2020, Azerbaijan won back part of Nagorno-Karabakh. This is a very delicate subject for some Armenians as parts of the Nagorno-Karabakh region that Azerbaijan has won back control over include monasteries and churches. Religion is additionally seen as another factor of the dispute between both nations as Armenia is the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as the country’s religion meanwhile Azerbaijan is a predominantly Muslim nation. Armenia’s political opposition however currently fears that Prime Minister Pashinyan plans to give up claims over the entire region, leading to the significant protests Armenia is currently dealing with today.
The protests forced the metro to come to a grinding halt in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan on May 18th. The protestors were in Yeritasardakan metro station and stood in the doors of subway cars blocking people from entering while demanding that Prime Minister Pashinyan resign. The subway system was shut down in order to clear out the protestors before reopening. The political opposition has vowed to keep up these protests in order to protect Nagorno-Karabakh. Protests originally started on April 17th and have continued and grown since a civil disobedience campaign by the political opposition was launched on May 1st to force Pashinyan to step down by paralyzing Yerevan. Hundreds of protestors have been taken into custody. Pashinyan has stated that he would discuss any deal with ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh before a deal would be approved. In April, acknowledged that he is willing to create a peace deal with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and a joint-commission between the two nations would mark the borders of the countries. Armenia’s government holds firm that it is willing to defend the rights of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the political opposition and citizens have lost faith in this promise and protests have continued. The political opposition claims that as many as 50 streets in Yerevan were closed by protestors. Protestors are determined to not back down due to how much blood has already been shed by Armenians to secure the region as part of Armenia.
Besides being concerned over Pashinyan’s willingness to maintain Armenian claims over Nagorno-Karabakh protestors are also furious over his perceived inability to lead during the conflict, causing Armenia to lose control over part of the region. The political opposition in Armenia is concerned that Pashinyan will give control over the entirety of Nagorno-Karabakh based on concerns that he seems to be listening to the international community which is encouraging Armenia to scale back its claims on the region. There were protests regarding Nagorno-Karabakh back in 2020 after the conflict ended. The Armenian National Assembly fell into chaos when protestors entered, and speaker Ararat Mirzoyan was beaten severely leading him to be hospitalized. Due to these protests, Pashinyan called for snap elections as a result which were held in September of 2021. His party Civil Contract won with over 50 percent of the vote but this election has done nothing to quell the anger of his opponents who maintain their resistance to his leadership of Armenia.
These protests are also a sign that the country’s short honeymoon period with Prime Minister Pashinyan has clearly ended. Armenia had a revolution in 2018 to throw out Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan who kept finding ways to extend his time as leader of the country. It was praised as a peaceful revolution without the use of a single round of ammunition unlike other revolutions in the region. Under Prime Minister Pashinyan, relations were slowly being repaired with a hotline installed between Azerbaijan and Armenia, deteriorating again after Pashinyan made a public remark affirming Armenia’s claim on Nagorno-Karabakh. However, critics of Pashinyan feel he has not done enough to reform the political institutions of Armenia. In particular, Prime Minister Pashinyan put off reforming Armenia’s constitution which was amended in 2015 to allow Serzh Sargsyan to stay in power. Pashinyan however said in 2018 after he was elected that the constitution would not be reformed until after the next parliamentary election which was scheduled to take place in 2023. This is additionally confusing as Pashinyan himself even described the constitution as “a jacket tailored personally for Serzh Sargsyan”. Judicial reforms that were promised have not materialized yet instead judges who previously used their positions to persecute the political opposition in 2008 have now been promoted.
As this conflict has been occurring for 100 years since the creation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, there is no solution to quickly resolve the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region. Citizens of both nations remain firm in their stance over their claims to Nagorno-Karabakh making it clear that a deal is unlikely to please everyone on both sides of the issue. If either nation is serious about joining the EU however this conflict will have to be resolved, along with political reforms. Ironically, EU membership has the potential to ease tensions due to the freedom of movement of people and a decrease in the importance of national borders between member states. Whether or not EU membership is truly a goal, resolving this issue would be beneficial for both nations in order to peacefully coexist rather than continue to spill blood.
