Injections of hope Europeans continue to woo Armenians

The relative progress in the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement, namely the agreement on the full text of a peace treaty by both sides, has, as expected, caused a strong allergic reaction in certain circles of European countries.

For example, on April 2, a hearing on a resolution project on "Nagorno-Karabakh" will be held in the Belgian federal parliament at the initiative of the Foreign Relations Committee. Belgian federal MP Els Van Hoof, who introduced the resolution project, made the following statement: "I was deeply shocked by the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, Azerbaijan’s subsequent aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan’s continuous aggressive rhetoric against Armenia. Belgium and Europe must pressure Azerbaijan to fully respect Armenia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and to work genuinely towards sustainable peace. If Azerbaijan continues to violate international law, sanctions must be adopted at the European level, and the EU’s relations with Azerbaijan must be reviewed. This is what my resolution is calling for."

​​A few days earlier, the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, the Council of States, adopted draft law No. 24.4259 titled "Peace Forum for Nagorno-Karabakh: Ensuring the Possibility of Return for Armenians." 29 out of 46 members voted in favor of the initiative, calling on Swiss authorities to "create a separate platform for dialogue between representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan." The decision of the Council of States followed the same proposal's approval by the lower house of the Swiss National Council on December 17, 2024. After the approval of both chambers, draft law No. 24.4259 will become law, obligating the Federal Council to begin its implementation.

To be fair, the Swiss government opposed this project, funded by the Armenian lobby. During parliamentary hearings, Swiss Federal Council member and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis, emphasized that any provocative actions are unacceptable. He noted that an initiative for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia can only be implemented with the consent of both countries.

It is worth recalling that in February of this year, a conference was held in the French Senate on the topic "The People of Armenia and Their Right to Return to Their Land." "This issue has attracted the attention of members of the upper house of parliament for several years. Last year, the Senate adopted a resolution condemning the military operation conducted by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh," the French Senate's statement read.

On one hand, all these events are laughable, and on the other, they are alarming. They are laughable because the deep sense of inferiority felt by some Europeans due to the situation in Ukraine is too obvious. Drawn into an indirect conflict with Russia by the Biden administration, the Europeans, with a decisive stroke of Trump’s scalpel, found themselves completely cut off from negotiations on Ukraine, embodying the phrase "used and discarded." Now, in order to create the illusion of importance, the Europeans have inflated their egos, blowing up a balloon called "help for Artsakh," which does not even exist in reality. From this perspective, the position of French, Belgian, and Swiss lawmakers cannot influence the resolved Karabakh conflict, and their efforts look indeed ridiculous.

At the same time, there are concerns that the activities of European circles could harm the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Old Europe does not want stability to prevail in the South Caucasus, nor for Armenia to live in peace with Türkiye and Azerbaijan. On the contrary, it constantly seeks to maintain a flashpoint of tension for Türkiye and Azerbaijan, thereby keeping the opportunity to interfere in the region's internal affairs. The danger of such European actions lies in the fact that they create an illusion of a secure backer in Armenian society, a guarantee of the revival of past dreams, and ultimately, of revenge. This is doubly dangerous and insidious, especially because Armenian society has initiated, albeit with some difficulty, a process of discussing the possibility of changing its national ideology and shifting from nationalist, Turkophobic views to more civilized positions. Against this backdrop, the messages coming from European capitals sound like a call to stop the public discussion and return to the eternal and unproductive cycle of self-contemplation and hatred toward Azerbaijanis and Turks.

This issue could be particularly sensitive in the context of voting on the referendum for constitutional reform. Let us imagine (and this is quite likely) that the upcoming referendum, scheduled for either 2026 or 2027, will include a clause to remove the article containing territorial claims against Azerbaijan. In such a case, the Europeans, with their "injections of hope" (and it is likely there will be more of them), would simply sabotage the anticipated shift in public consciousness in Armenia. It should also be noted that Armenia's leadership itself is not acting consistently – Pashinyan's course towards militarization and his statements catering to revisionist circles also prevent society from understanding the true intentions of the Armenian government.

The fuss created by Yerevan and Brussels over Eurointegration only adds fuel to this fire. Unfortunately, all these factors are capable of leaving the Armenian people without any hope for the revitalization of both their identity and geopolitical status. Armenians will have one set of neighbors in mind (France, Switzerland, Belgium) and a completely different set on the ground (Azerbaijan, Türkiye). And, as the classic said, they will never come together. This will cause immense pain to Armenian society itself.

The defeat of 2020 and the closure of the Karabakh issue in 2023 should have served as a catalyst for the Armenian people to embark on a spiritual reconstruction and move away from the crude nationalist agenda. The next two years will reveal whether this is the case. If not, the Armenian people will have to wait for the next catastrophe to realize that in European capitals, they are simply being used.