Pundit: No one needs Armenia, Yerevan needs to find common ground with Baku

Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the KUPOL International Cooperation Support Fund Sarkis Asatryan said that no one needs Armenia and Yerevan needs to find a common language with Baku.

Caliber.Az reports that he published a statement to this effect on Facebook.

I have a policy statement addressed to Armenians around the world, citizens of Armenia, as well as representatives of the expert community of world centres. What I’m going to say now may, at first glance, sound very unpleasant and offend the ears, especially for Armenians. But the harsh truth is much better than any lie, even if this lie is very sweet. I suggest you listen to what I say to the end. And I propose that everything I say now be taken as a basis for the future concepts of the development of the state of Armenia, taking into account what I have said.

First. We, Armenians, must clearly understand that our neighbours, Azerbaijan and Türkiye, will strengthen their union with each other on the principle of “one nation, two states” in the coming decades. Türkiye and Azerbaijan have a lot in common in terms of alliance. This is, first of all, the language; they are both Turkic. This is a factor of religion, this is a factor of general mentality. And also, geopolitical and geostrategic interests, which are very important.

First of all, of course, Türkiye, because Türkiye is dominant. We must clearly understand that Türkiye and Azerbaijan are natural allies. And Azerbaijan will never give up Türkiye’s alliance for the sake of another alliance, for example, with Russia. If Türkiye and Russia are in the balance, Azerbaijan will certainly choose Türkiye because they speak the same language. This is practically one nation already; for decades they have been moving towards the formation of a common ethnic group. We must also clearly understand that in the near future, Armenia must realize that Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan will create a new powerful economic as well as military-political union. It's inevitable. It is a fact.

Second. Armenians should realize that the three-hundred-year friendship between the Russian and Armenian people is certainly priceless. But Russia, being a power, at least a regional one, will never act to the detriment of its interests, and will never go against Russian-Turkish relations, Russian-Azerbaijani relations for the sake of Armenian-Russian relations. That is, there are Armenian-Russian, Russian-Turkish, and Russian-Azerbaijani relations on the scales. And Russia would not choose from these three scales in favour of Armenian-Russian cooperation, because Russia has its own interests. And we, finally, must realize that a power like Russia has its own geostrategic and geopolitical interests. And in no way one should take offense, hold a grudge about why Russia or the Russians preserve their interests in Türkiye or Azerbaijan and protect the interests of Armenia.

Third. We, Armenians, must realize that neighbours are not chosen, neighbours will not go anywhere. And Armenia is surrounded by four neighbours. All of them are much larger and stronger than Armenia. This is Azerbaijan, this is Iran, this is Türkiye, this is Georgia. These are the neighbours. And it is better to be friends with your neighbours or to have a neutral, equal attitude than to be at enmity. Well, of course, you need to be prepared for war in case of an attack. That's another question. But hate speech should be a thing of the past. I have spoken about this more than once. And any armchair experts who sit at home all the time with nothing to do, want to incite and cause hatred and xenophobia against their neighbours, including the Turks and Azerbaijanis, are not pragmatic.

The Azerbaijanis and we need to find a common language. I talked about this three years ago and proposed a very simple mechanism. And this proposal was sent to the Azerbaijani and Armenian parties, the political elite. I'll repeat it again. War is war, but after the war, we need to understand ourselves and eradicate hatred. Hatred for each other. And therefore, I propose to discuss again, I have already made this proposal, I propose again, at the level of the parliaments of Azerbaijan and Armenia, a bill and the simultaneous adoption of a law in Azerbaijan and Armenia on the prohibition of hatred to the Armenians, in Armenia to pass a law banning the propaganda of hatred towards Azerbaijanis and Turks. I don’t want to listen to any criticism now, because in a historical global sense, I’m right. Anyone who criticizes me now will criticize me emotionally. But if you look deeply, everything I say is salvation for our next generations. Even if I am the worst person I will lay the Stone of Peace as a basis, rather than pander to those scoundrels who have been spreading the plague of hatred, xenophobia and promoting war for more than a hundred years. This applies to both sides. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a law on hate speech.

Next. Armenia cannot be of interest to any military-political bloc, in particular NATO, for many reasons. First, most importantly, I won’t even name others, because Türkiye is part of the NATO bloc. The Turkish army is NATO's second army. And any other interests of the North Atlantic military-political bloc, all other narratives, projects, and programs can never proceed from the interests and without taking into account the interests of the Turkish side. I think I'm being accessible and clarifying. This is the harsh truth.

All those puppet figures worth $300-$500 who go to embassies receive this money, socio-political, Armenian, and offer a luxurious future in NATO and so on. Look how many decades such a prospect has been promised to other countries that are not part of Türkiye’s zone of interests. Also, Georgia, what happened with Ukraine, but they were not part of Türkiye’s zone of interests. And Türkiye, for a second, is NATO’s second army. What kind of perspective can we talk about? What is the prospect of Armenia joining NATO if these are all cheap promises that will simply destroy our statehood? Technically this is not possible. This is the harsh truth.

Everything I've said, any thesis of mine, will probably evoke negative emotions in many people. I know that. But I cannot afford to remain silent and not speak, because we need to look ahead, to see what will be beyond the horizon. One must be able to anticipate. If we understand, mull, evaluate and accept what I have said, Armenia will have a bright, brilliant future. We must realise and accept that no one needs us but ourselves.