“The greatest challenge for Armenia is certainly to restore peace within society and to create a certain national unity in order to jointly cope with the daunting tasks that the country faces in this new chapter of its history. The task now is to organize a united response against reactionary forces because revisionist tendencies are of no help at the moment,” Dr. Nadja Douglas, a researcher at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin, said in an interview to Caucasus Watch on Wednesday.

According to her, however, that does not mean that the Armenians “can afford to remain in a state of shock” for a prolonged time. “There is a lot of need for action and transparency, e.g. the return of political prisoners and war dead as well as the investigation of war crimes and human rights abuses that reportedly occurred on both sides during the recent war. Furthermore, questions of demarcation, the clearing of mines and other weapons, as well as the fate of internally displaced persons must be clarified. The future of Armenian religious and cultural sites on the territory that has now been recaptured by Azerbaijan is also a matter of concern,” she said.

“Armenian society should have a say in all of these issues. Ultimately, however, the most important thing is to stabilize the political and economic situation, which is currently on shaky ground (and was also affected by the Covid-19 crisis),” Douglas noted.

Asked whether she believes the political situation in Armenia can calm down without Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation, the researcher said: “No, I think that is not possible. Prime Minister Pashinyan no longer has a large majority of the population behind him. He has disqualified himself politically and morally by the tragic defeat in the 44-day war against Azerbaijan. The country's elites, including the president, the parliamentary opposition, all three former heads of state, the heads of the Armenian Church and numerous governors and intellectuals, have spoken out against him and the continuance of his government. He must clear the way for change, whether in the form of a transitional government, as requested by the opposition, or snap elections, as advocated by the ruling My Step coalition, remains to be seen.”