Azerbaijan Sides with Pashinyan, Opposing Armenian Nationalists — By Harut Sassounian

The governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey and their media outlets closely follow and critically respond to developments and articles published in Armenia and the Diaspora. Many of my weekly articles have been translated and reprinted by Azeri and Turkish newspapers and websites over the years.

The most recent example is an article by Haroutioun Aga-Sarkisian of Atlanta, Georgia, published on Sept. 29 on a news website in Armenia. He is the chairman of the All-Armenian Council for the Defense of the Armenian Church and the founder of the local chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America. The article, titled “Pashinyan’s New Dividing Line Among the Diaspora Youth,” criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for meeting with a small group of Armenian-American university students in New York City on Sept. 24. Pashinyan intended to present to the students his controversial concept of “Real Armenia.”

On Sept. 30, the Azeri news website, 1news.az, responded by criticizing Aga-Sarkisian and defending Pashinyan’s policies, which are detrimental to Armenian national interests. The article, written by Farida Baghirova, was titled “Captive to a draining phantom: how revanchism undermines Armenia’s future.”

Baghirova wrote: “In recent years, Armenian political discourse has increasingly become hostage to a dangerous trend — radicalism and revanchism are becoming the cornerstone of public life. The drivers of this destructive dynamic are not only radical forces within the country, but also part of the Armenian Diaspora abroad.”

Baghirova then attacked the Armenian Apostolic Church: “Etchmiadzin and the diaspora circles connected with it remain one of the important channels for mobilizing revanchist rhetoric. This interwoven network of influence gave the radicals the opportunity to dictate the agenda to Yerevan for decades. For them, Armenia was not a place to live with its socio-economic problems, but a springboard for satisfying their political ambitions.”

Baghirova then defended Pashinyan’s concept of “Real Armenia,” adding, “Pashinyan [is] destroying the illusion that lobbyists abroad have the right to sacrifice the security of Armenia’s citizens for the sake of their own ideological dogmas.”

Returning to her attacks on the Armenian Church, Baghirova wrote: “Similar processes are taking place in the Armenian Church as well, which, instead of preaching peace, is turning into a headquarters of ideological resistance to any movement toward a final peace in the region. Revanchism is no longer a dispute about the past; it is a political model that requires the constant ‘presence of an enemy,’ a return to ‘losses’ and a refusal to accept the new reality. If they want to continue living by this logic in Armenia, well, that is their choice. Azerbaijan has stated its position with utmost clarity — peace, stability, development. Armenian society will have to deal with its own political ghosts by itself.”

Several Azeri websites routinely attack the Armenian opposition in Armenia and the Diaspora. The articles are well researched and are written in several languages, including fluent English. It is clear that these websites are well-funded and that the analysts writing these articles are highly compensated by the Azeri government.

In their eagerness to attack Pashinyan’s opponents inside and outside Armenia, the Azeri media and government officials do not seem to realize that they are making it obvious that Azerbaijan welcomes and supports the Prime Minister’s policies. When your enemy sides with your own government, there is ample reason to be suspicious. In recent years, Pashinyan has done everything possible to align himself with the wishes of Azerbaijan and Turkey. He has made numerous concessions and continues to do so. He has handed Artsakh to Azerbaijan and ceded parts of the territories of the Republic of Armenia, while alienating the citizens of Armenia and members of the Diaspora. Naturally, Azerbaijan and Turkey are pleased with him. As the saying goes, “the enemy within is far more dangerous than the enemy outside.” The worst fear of Azerbaijan and Turkey is that Pashinyan will be replaced by a patriotic Armenian leader who will defend the interests of the nation.

The constant drumbeat by Azerbaijan that it is a peace-loving nation is contradicted by Pres. Ilham Aliyev’s refusal to sign the negotiated “peace treaty,” even after claiming that he dictated to Pashinyan all 17 articles of the agreement.

Aliyev makes constant threats, warning that Azerbaijan will attack Armenia unless it accepts all Azeri demands. He describes Armenia’s leaders as “war criminals who must receive the punishment they deserve,” while refusing to release the Artsakh officials who have been imprisoned and tried in Baku. Recently, Aliyev even referred to constructing “a third Victory Arch…in the center of Yerevan today.”

Meanwhile, Pashinyan is constantly talking about how he has brought peace to Armenia. But peace cannot be one-sided. Peace does not exist when the enemy is swinging a yatagan over your head, threatening to chop it off.