Author: Ani Basmajian

Iran’s nuclear program is advancing effectively and will become factual in the near future, and a big war remains the only option to undermine this. This is what political scientist Stepan Danielyan wrote on his Facebook page, touching upon regional developments.

“Who will wage a war against Iran? It seems that the answer to this question is clear — Turkey and Azerbaijan. The meaning of the Turkey-Azerbaijan military alliance, as well as the ongoing purchase of weapons and military exercises should be viewed in this context as well.

It’s clear that the London-Ankara-Baku-Tel Aviv axis is acting against Iran. The local Azerbaijanis and Arabs of Khuzistan will act against Iran, and in its turn, Iran will try to mobilize the Kurds of Turkey, like it did during the war against Iraq.

Who will be Iran’s allies? Iran has issues with Pakistan. Taking into consideration Iran’s relations with China, it’s not very likely that China and Russia will directly support Iran, but perhaps indirectly.

What is the route through which Turkey will supply troops and weapons to Azerbaijan? The importance of the road of Meghri for Azerbaijan should be viewed in this context as well.

It’s clear that this scenario will very likely become a reality, but it’s hard to predict when. However, it seems that the issue of Iran’s nuclear program is accelerating the development of events.

What is Armenia going to do? This is a question that the government needs to answer. The government’s duty is to draw up action programs for different scenarios and lead an appropriate policy. Armenia’s objective is to stay as far away from that war as possible,” he wrote.

Today US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Lynne Tracy visited Gegharkunik Province along with representatives of the Armenian Ministry of Defense. Commander of the military formation, Major General Arayik Harutyunyan told the Ambassador about the current situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, after which he organized a visit to the borderline in the Verin Shorzha sector of the border, as reported the Armenian Ministry of Defense.

Ambassador Tracy reaffirmed the US government’s concern about the incidents taking place along the length of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and emphasized that the US rejects the use of force in the case of demarcation.

Tracy also emphasized that the US, as a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group, remains strongly committed to working with all the sides in order to achieve a long-term political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

At the same time, according to Tracy, the US requires that the sides return to the negotiations at the level of Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group as soon as possible.

As reported earlier, the captured resident of Machkalashen village of Martuni region of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has been transferred to the Armenian side through the mediation of Russian peacekeeping forces.

The 32-year-old resident of Machkalashen village, who found himself and was captured in a territory under the control of Azerbaijani Armed Forces and was later returned to Artsakh through the mediation of Russian peacekeepers, was beaten and subjected to inhumane treatment in Azerbaijan, as a result of which, according to preliminary information, his right leg was injured. This is what Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan wrote on his Facebook page, adding the following:

“The citizen is currently at his house in the village. The Azerbaijani side continues its aggressive behavior and doesn’t miss the opportunity to torture and humiliate citizens who find themselves in the territories under their control. I call the attention of international organizations and the law-enforcement authorities of Artsakh.”

Today official representative of ‘Armenia’ bloc Aram Vardevanyan submitted to the Central Electoral Commission an application on my decision to drop the mandate of Member of Parliament. This is what second President of Armenia, leader of the opposition ‘Armenia’ bloc Robert Kocharyan wrote on his Facebook page, adding the following:

“It so happened that I have been a deputy of the parliaments of both Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia, but due to my personality, I have always been a person who is in government. I am certain that the right thing to do now is to cede to my teammates, and I am sure that each of them will be a good deputy.

With this, I am giving my consent to thousands of my teammates who expressed the view that I shouldn’t be tempted by the mandate of a deputy after holding the position of President of the Republic of Artsakh and President of the Republic of Armenia. After all, people were casting their votes for me as candidate for Prime Minister.

At the same time, I deem it necessary to stress that not being in parliament doesn’t mean I am not going to continue the struggle. The parliamentary faction is the presence of the bloc in the National Assembly, and I am still the leader of the bloc and will contribute to our future victories through daily and consistent efforts.

I am certain that everything will be alright.

Robert Kocharyan”

Friends, please interpret Nairi Hokhikyan’s statements about my conversation with Nikol Pashinyan and former spokesperson of the Prime Minister (current Ambassador of Armenia to Kyiv) Vladimir Karapetyan. This is what blogger Alexander Lapshin wrote on his Facebook page, adding the following:

“Based on what I understood from the translation of Nairi’s article in Armenian, I am mentioned in the sense that I allegedly discussed the plan for the transfer of Artsakh with Nikol Pashinyan and Vladimir Karapetyan and that Karapetyan had allegedly said that “it’s fine, if a few thousand Armenians die”, and that if I don’t stop criticizing Azerbaijan, it would be better, if I don’t visit Armenia. If I don’t understand the essence of the text too well, I apologize, it’s the shortcoming of Google Translate.

In the spring of 2019, Nairi Hokhikyan called me on the phone telling me there was going to be an economic forum in Gavar on one of those days and that I was invited as a guest speaker. He said Prime Minister Pashinyan will be there and I will have the chance to meet him. I agreed. Moreover, when I was in prison in Belarus (before being extradited to Baku), Pashinyan and Edmon Marukyan had organized a demonstration in front of the Embassy of Belarus in Yerevan with the demand for my release. This was my opportunity to thank those people for their support during the tragic days of my imprisonment.

After the forum, I met Nikol Pashinyan, Vladimir Karapetyan and Nairi Hokhikyan at a banquet in Gavar. There were other people who were most probably the Prime Minister’s bodyguards. During the meeting, I told Nikol Pashinyan about what had happened to me in Azerbaijan due to my visit to Artsakh and the claim against the Aliyev regime. On May 20, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights declared Azerbaijan guilty of my unlawful arrest, tortures, humiliation and assassination attempt. Nikol expressed his compassion and said I could contact him, if he could help me with anything. Vladimir Karapetyan was standing near him, and during the talk, he said Armenia is in a difficult period and is under pressure, the mutual concessions in Artsakh are inevitable in order to get out of the blockade and economic crisis. He also said Armenia needs to lead negotiations with its neighbors in order to get out of the blockade and crisis. He also said the situation may change in the years to come and I should follow what is happening in the region in order to be in the trend.

Afterwards, Sputnik Armenia wrote about my meeting with the Prime Minister. In other words, this was an absolutely open and public event, not a secret. That’s it.

Nothing else happened. It’s hard for me to comment on the rest of the statements in Nairi Hokhikyan’s article since I didn’t have the conversations. I have never heard the cited words “thousands of Armenians killed”, and neither Nikol Pashinyan nor Vladimir Karapetyan declared this during my meeting with them. Nobody said I shouldn’t come to Armenia if I don’t stop criticizing Azerbaijan. On the contrary, as I had said earlier, Pashinyan told me I could address him, if he could help me in any way. Frankly, who am I for the head of state to discuss “thousands of Armenians killed” with a travel blogger?

After the war in the fall of 2020, it’s obvious that we were all (as well as me) were asking ourselves if the loss of Artsakh was previously planned. Of course, I was asking myself if this was what the head of state meant when he was talking about the need to overcome the crisis in Artsakh and the coerced concessions. I don’t know. In any case, a disaster took place, and this is painful for me, just like it is painful for all citizens of Armenia. Everyone understood that the conflict in Artsakh was going to be resolved some way and that some lands would have to be transferred to Baku, but, of course, the transfer at such a price is a tragedy.

Obviously, during the war, I didn’t know and couldn’t have known what was going to happen to Shushi. In his article, Nairi writes that back in October I had told him that “Shushi will be transferred and then the war will end”. There has never been such a conversation between us. I was certain that Armenia would show resistance, and I believed in this until the end, in spite of the fact that many Armenian analysts I knew would say that “everything is already decided” and that “they [the Armenians] will transfer Artsakh”.

I respect Nairi Hokhikyan. He is a talented journalist and great patriot of Armenia. I don’t understand what guided him to publish this article, indicating my name and the conversations that I have never had. Above I wrote about our meeting. I can’t bear responsibility for other statements by Nairi and his evaluative judgments.

P.S.: I don’t know why Nairi voice recorded the talk I had with him after the war in which I regret to say that I am trying to understand what Nikol Pashinyan and Vladimir Karapetyan meant to say during the meeting in Gavar. There is no secret or discrediting statement in my remarks, but it seems to me that this is a dishonest act on Nairi’s part. I’m far from politics in Armenia. I’m a blogger and traveler, and I believe it would be wrong to try to entangle me in political intrigues.”