Awakening to sobriety Reintegration is inevitable

After winning the 44-day war in 2020 and restoring its territorial integrity, Azerbaijan has been systematically paving the way for the reintegration of the Karabakh Armenians into the overall fabric of Azerbaijani society. The erection of the Lachin border checkpoint on April 23, 2023, was a pivotal moment that prevented further feeding of illegal formations in Karabakh by Armenia with manpower and weapons.

Azerbaijan has been carrying out its actions strictly within the framework of domestic legislation and international law, which, despite the hysteria raised by Armenian politicians and the media, who claim that a humanitarian catastrophe is allegedly impending in the region, was also confirmed during the talks between the leaders of the two states in Brussels on July 15, 2023.

Following the meeting, EU Council President Charles Michel, in particular, announced his support for Azerbaijan's initiative to use the Aghdam-Khankandi road, and also called on Baku to engage in dialogue with the Karabakh Armenians. Moreover, he did not mention any international participation, which Yerevan insists on with the obvious goal of freezing the process of reintegration of Karabakh Armenians. Michel's statement thus fixed the vision and position of the international community.

The Armenian propaganda machine has stepped up a slanderous campaign against Baku from the onset of the protest of Azerbaijani eco-activists on the Lachin road, trying to convict Azerbaijan of “blockade” of the Karabakh Armenians and allegedly “threats of ethnic cleansing”.

However, the intrigues of Armenia were not successful, since Baku provided extremely transparent information about the true nature of affairs and the problems caused by the slanderers themselves at the Lachin border checkpoint. After the world community became aware of the alternative route, through which the region could be supplied with food and essential goods, the attempts of the world Armenians to inflate the soap bubble of a fictitious humanitarian catastrophe lost all meaning.

Reintegration is inevitable, and Baku, step by step, will eliminate artificial obstacles to its implementation. However, along with artificial barriers, there are quite objective difficulties, primarily of a psychological nature. And this is not even a very serious problem of trust between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, separated by more than thirty years of military conflict.

Undoubtedly, this will be overcome, gradually and in parallel with the economic and social reunification of Armenians with the overall fabric of society. And it will happen much faster than many can imagine. It is the economy that will become the locomotive of the integration and socialization of Karabakh Armenians into the Azerbaijani society. But here lies another psychological problem.

It is known that the ethnic Armenian residents of the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan receive about 400 million dollars a year in the form of subsidies from the budget of the Republic of Armenia. Moreover, a considerable part of this money never reaches ordinary Karabakh Armenians, settling in the pockets of self-proclaimed officials.

This is confirmed by the following remarks of the Armenian prime minister at a press conference on July 25, 2023: “Why do they in Karabakh not demand to find high-ranking officials who own real estate in Yerevan? How was 150 billion drams (about 400 million dollars) used that they do not have ingridients for ajapsandal?”

Thus, the region, since ancient times famous for livestock and vegetable products, that is, previously completely self-sufficient in meat, milk, fruits and vegetables, during the years of Armenian occupation, despite all the pathos of the Karabakh impostors, could not at least maintain the food base that once existed. With what remains, it is impossible to cover even half of the needs of the very small population of the region now. According to Armenian sources, before the installation of the Lachin border checkpoint by Azerbaijan, 90% of all food products were imported from Armenia.

All of the above eloquently indicates that the Armenians living in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan exist in the literal sense of the word at the expense of the taxpayers of the Republic of Armenia.

That is, one can thus come to the conclusion that the inhabitants of the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan of Armenian origin have developed a stable “dependent syndrome”. An injection of “miatsum”, like a dose of opium, introduced to the Armenians of Karabakh thirty-five years ago, put them into an absolutely inactive state of half-asleep with a complete absence of economic activity and isolation from the outside world.

Integration into the Azerbaijani state implies the establishment of a normal life in order to obtain the benefits of life. Fathers of families, young people, who have passed the age of majority, that is, the able-bodied Armenians of Karabakh will have to wake up one fine morning and understand that in order to feed their children, help their elderly relatives, they need to take a bus, go to Aghdam or Shusha, offer their services on a conditional exchange work, to work shoulder to shoulder with the Azerbaijanis, including restoring Karabakh, or, for example, to take preferential loans provided by us for starting a business from an Azerbaijani bank and do much more.

Here again it is useful to recall what Pashinyan said. Continuing to talk about the lack of vegetables in Karabakh, he said: “They should have grown them! Or was it also supposed to be sown in the Ararat valley and sent (to Karabakh - ed.)? Do you want to sacrifice the independence of Armenia? To whom? It's out of the question."

In fact, Pashinyan bluntly stated that the parasitic model of the existence of the Armenian community of Karabakh at the expense of Armenia should be put to an end, between the lines calling on the Karabakh Armenians to reintegrate into Azerbaijan.

Psychologically, the Karabakh Armenians, of course, find it difficult to get used to even the thought of working, and even with the Azerbaijanis. But this is the only way that will lead to the improvement of the local community. Moreover, sobriety will also occur in the plane of worldview. The Armenians of Karabakh will live in a society that excludes the propaganda of racism and national exclusiveness. And in the future, albeit not very close, they can become exporters of ideas of tolerance and cultural diversity to the Republic of Armenia.

The Aghdam-Khankandi road, as the first link in the reintegration of Karabakh Armenians, is not just the most effective economic link between the Armenian community and other regions of Azerbaijan. It will undoubtedly become a road of reconciliation, designed to dispel misunderstanding and distrust between Azerbaijanis and Armenians living in a common homeland for all the peoples of Azerbaijan.