Revanchists without an audience Illusions vs. reality

While the Armenian government has openly affirmed its commitment to peace with Azerbaijan, a fact enshrined in the Washington agreements, the perennial opponents of Prime Minister Pashinyan’s policy continue their vile attempts to torpedo this process.

In recent months, former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and ex-President Serzh Sargsyan have been particularly active on this far from enviable front. The latter, just recently, when asked by journalists whether the Karabakh issue could be brought onto Armenia’s agenda, replied that such a possibility always exists.

In a similar vein, the former foreign minister elaborated on the topic on his Facebook page, issuing yet another round of accusations against the Armenian leadership and playing the same old, creaky record about the “forced relocation of over 120,000 Armenians from Karabakh,” allegedly due to “Azerbaijani aggression.”

“Successive Armenian governments deliberately avoided officially recognising Artsakh in order to preserve the possibility of negotiations and a peaceful settlement. However, Pashinyan’s statement that ‘Artsakh is Armenia, period’ provoked the war, with all its known consequences. Now, to preserve his political existence, he declares that the issue is ‘closed,’ while insisting that Artsakh was in fact never Armenian,” the former minister wrote.

In other words, Oskanian welcomes the position of Armenia’s previous authorities on Karabakh, justifies their policy of occupying Azerbaijani lands, and accuses the current authorities of having “provoked the war and then recognised Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.”

However, he conveniently forgets that Armenia’s previous governments ignored the demands of four UN Security Council resolutions for years, avoided substantive negotiations with Azerbaijan, and that their stubbornness and behaviour ultimately led to a military resolution of the long-standing conflict.

Thus, Oskanian’s unfounded accusations against the current authorities are by no means a sign of patriotism, but rather political illiteracy, which is further confirmed by his “old songs” about the “forced relocation” of Armenians from Karabakh—clearly aimed at inciting revanchism in Armenia.

“The forced relocation of over 120,000 Armenians from Artsakh in 2023 was an act of ethnic cleansing, not a solution to the issue or the end of the story. International law guarantees the right of displaced persons to return, and the International Court has explicitly instructed Azerbaijan to ensure their safe return. Similar demands have been made by the European Parliament, the parliaments of Switzerland, France, and Belgium, as well as representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries,” he wrote.

First of all, we should express some sympathy for Oskanian, given that his long-held expectations regarding the OSCE Minsk Group have collapsed overnight, leaving a bitter aftertaste. As is well known, just recently the formal demise of this long-defunct, amorphous organisation was legally recorded: on September 1, the OSCE Council of Ministers adopted a decision to close the Minsk Process and its associated structures—a further diplomatic success for the Azerbaijani state.

As for his expectations of the European Parliament and the parliaments of Switzerland, France, and Belgium, revanchist supporters have nothing to gain there either. Numerous anti-Azerbaijani resolutions passed by these bodies merely reflect the presence of the Armenian diaspora in these European countries, capable of recruiting corrupt French and Belgian deputies. Yet these documents have not caused the slightest harm to the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization process—just as absurd as the statements spread via social media by Oskanian, Sargsyan, and their ilk.

Apparently, revanchist adherents in Armenia believe that by demonstrating a high level of “social engagement” through posts on their Facebook pages, they can become “closer to the people” and gain mass support. However, to this day, their rosy hopes remain empty dreams: persistent calls by the opposition for revanchism have led neither to mass street protests nor to a change of government. From this, it follows that the Armenian people, by and large, have chosen the path of peace and support the course of Armenia’s current authorities.