Dirty money, or what is Swiss neutrality worth these days? Another anti-Azerbaijani provocation

The global Armenian network continues its efforts to lobby European legislative bodies for the “return of Armenians to Karabakh.” Lately, the community of the “long-suffering” in Switzerland has been particularly active in this regard. It is worth recalling that the Armenian community in this country of mountains, clocks, and chocolate was established in the 1960s and is a vibrant part of the global Armenian diaspora. Today, around 5,000 to 7,000 Armenians live in Switzerland, mainly in Geneva, Zurich, Fribourg, Bern, Neuchâtel, and Ticino.

On the eve of recent developments, Armenian media, citing the central office of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun's Hay Dat Bureau, reported that “On May 26, a cross-party committee of 19 parliamentarians in support of the Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh will be launched in Bern, the capital of Switzerland.The Swiss Peace Initiative is based on Motion 24.4259, passed by the Swiss Parliament, which instructs the Federal Council to ‘organize an international peace forum on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in order to facilitate an open dialogue between Azerbaijan and representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and to negotiate the safe return of the historically resident Armenian population.’”

In reality, this so-called “peace initiative,” pushed through the Swiss parliament in March by the Armenian diaspora, is aimed at imposing a blatant falsehood on the international community—that Armenians were allegedly forced to leave Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region. It comes as no surprise that the leading roles in this campaign are played by parliamentarians Erich Vontobel and Stefan Müller-Altermatt, both staunch Armenian lobbyists. Their status in this regard is clearly evidenced by facts from the recent past. For instance, Vontobel recently visited Yerevan, where he met with Samvel Shahramanyan—the figurehead of the now-defunct remnants of separatism in Karabakh.

For his part, Stefan Müller-Altermatt, much like his “fellow lobbyist,” has been actively earning the money of his Armenian sponsors. In January of this year, he distinguished himself with provocative anti-Azerbaijani statements. In an interview with an Armenian outlet, he made rather disparaging remarks in the context of the issue of Western Azerbaijan: “After the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev needs new narratives to justify his tyranny. To this end, he is now reversing the victim-perpetrator narrative and inventing 'West Azerbaijan'. While this may benefit him domestically, his words will fall on deaf ears internationally.”

And then, as the saying goes, Müller-Altermatt really went off the rails. With a straight face, he voiced the absurd notion that “Azerbaijan's demands have one main aim: to sow discord in Armenia and destabilize the country.” At the same time, he repeatedly sang praises to the “Crossroads of Peace” project, which Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been promoting with near-maniacal persistence.

Speaking of Pashinyan’s “crossroads” — as President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated at a transportation-focused meeting in January of this year: “You have probably heard that they have come up with the so-called ‘Peace Crossroads’ project, and now there is not a single country in the world they have not shared this project with. However, this so-called project is not worth two cents without Azerbaijan, and we have repeatedly conveyed this to the Armenian side through various channels. If you truly want to implement this project, first of all, you should approach Azerbaijan. Because without us, it is just a piece of paper, and our terms are fair, grounded in international law and the obligations Armenia itself has undertaken.”

This clear message from the Azerbaijani president is addressed not only to the leadership of Armenia but also to the lobbyists of Armenian interests in the West.

Let us also note another fact. At the event marking the launch of the commission supporting the so-called “Swiss Peace Initiative”—born from absurd fantasies—will appear former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, now head of the “Committee for the Protection of the Fundamental Rights of the People of Nagorno-Karabakh.” Oskanian is known for repeatedly making provocative statements against Azerbaijan, while not failing to criticise the current Armenian government.

For example, in one of his social media posts in February last year, Oskanian, once again rambling about the “repatriation of Armenians to Karabakh,” referred to international law and conventions—conveniently forgetting that it was Armenia itself that shamelessly and grossly violated these norms for almost thirty years during its occupation of Azerbaijani territories, ignoring not only four UN Security Council resolutions but also other documents of international organisations.

In March of this year, the former head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, commenting on the decision of the Swiss Council of States to adopt the resolution titled “Peace Forum for Nagorno Karabakh: Ensuring the Opportunity for Return of Armenians,” boldly went so far as to apply international law principles to Armenians who voluntarily left Karabakh, stating: "The right of return for forcibly displaced persons is one of the pillars of international law, enshrined in numerous legal precedents and international declarations."

This entire theatre of the absurd on the theme of “the return of Armenians to Karabakh,” orchestrated by Oskanian and other questionable figures of the Armenian political establishment, pursues only one goal — to mislead the international community by portraying Armenia as the victim and Azerbaijan as the aggressor. This fixed idea is deliberately promoted by certain Swiss parliamentarians generously funded by the Armenian lobby.

One cannot help but ask these deputies: do you truly not realise that such provocations damage the reputation of a country known on the international stage for its neutral stance? Or are the funds, gentlemen, so unscented to you that you don’t even care about the honour of your own nation?