Armenian PM's fiasco in Prague Pashinyan upset with Czech Republic, EU

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's two-day tour of the Czech Republic this week can, without any preconception, be regarded as yet another failure of Armenian diplomacy, as evidenced by the muddled and illogical statements voiced by the PM. Although it is always difficult to detect logic in Pashinyan's words, let us try to analyse his Prague vitriol.

So, being in the very centre of Europe, Pashinyan spoke very unflatteringly about the European mission in Armenia. After all a team of European observers arrived there at his own insistence and, of course, at the EU's own goodwill. But without Baku's consent and with Moscow's disapproval.

We should immediately note that since the mission’s arrival in the neighbouring country, Armenia has repeatedly provoked Azerbaijan by staging provocations on the border and violating the ceasefire regime. That is, the very fact of its presence has actually given Armenia confidence and motivation for new provocations against Azerbaijan. Therefore, the Armenian prime minister's harsh statements that “the EU mission not only fails to provide security guarantees but may also create new challenges” must have left those present at the Prague Transatlantic Centre, where he was speaking, very much puzzled and even more of a surprise for the mission’s organisers, that is to say, the European Union.

As we know, in January this year, the EU foreign ministers agreed to send a civil monitoring mission to Armenia, whose task was "to increase confidence in Armenia’s border regions and create conditions conducive to the normalisation of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia". However, subsequent events showed that the EU mission prefers to turn a blind eye to provocations by Armenia, and much more. Baku, on the other hand, has only called on Yerevan to respect its commitments, pointing out that an EU civilian reconnaissance mission’s deployment cannot serve as a pretext to violate all the agreements and allow for overt aggression with impunity.

Baku stated that, firstly, the mission factor should not be used "to undermine the process of normalisation of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, including the border delimitation process, which should be carried out on a bilateral basis". Secondly, Azerbaijan insisted that the deployment of the mission should "take into account the legitimate interests of Azerbaijan and that the activities of the mission should not undermine mutual trust".

As subsequent events have shown, Baku was absolutely right, and the presence of the EU mission in the region does nothing to advance the peace agenda and normalise relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but it also gives Yerevan the illusion of impunity.

Incidentally, Pashinyan's trip to Prague also showed that Armenia is in vain in its reliance on the comprehensive support of European partners, in this case, the Czech Republic, for the South Caucasus regional agenda, in particular in the issue of Azerbaijan's establishment of a checkpoint in Lachin. To recall, Pashinyan, speaking at a joint press conference with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, called on the international community "to give a clear and targeted assessment of Azerbaijan's establishment of a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor".

However, in response to Pashinyan's call, Fiala restricted himself to stating that "the Czech Republic will support peace initiatives in the South Caucasus" and even called Armenia's and Azerbaijan's mutual recognition of each other's territorial integrity (which was enshrined in the Prague Declaration of October 2022) a "historic milestone".

And when asked by a Czech journalist why the Czech Republic and the EU do not impose sanctions on Azerbaijan, Fiala bluntly stated that the targeted response to Azerbaijan's actions in Karabakh and on the border with Armenia was a "one-sided assessment".

"If I unilaterally assess who is violating the ceasefire, it will not improve the situation. The common goal of the Czech Republic and the European Union is to achieve stability in the region and ensure long-term peace. We have taken concrete steps in this direction and our experts are present in the EU monitoring mission," Fiala said, stressing that long-term peace requires goodwill on both sides.

That is, simply, the Czech Republic has rejected Pashinyan's call to oppose Azerbaijan's legitimate right to set up a checkpoint in Lachin. Moreover, Fiala's statements do not in any way go beyond Prague's previous position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Apparently, the Armenian prime minister has completely overlooked this important nuance, which has led to another fiasco for him.