Undeterred by massive Armenian hype, Azerbaijan set to complete incomplete mission in Karabakh Unfired last bullet must be fired

Nowadays, the calm before the impending storm is dominating the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, where pockets of defeated but not yet completely smashed separatists, under the temporary protection of the Russian peacekeepers, are challenging the central government.

As Azerbaijan and Armenia are approaching the third anniversary of the 2020 Second Karabakh War with varying degrees of agendas, Baku is stepping up pressure on the illegal entity in the separatist region to complete the mission and fully restore the nation’s territorial integrity though Armenia is after various tricks to derail the whole process and drag out the signing of a peace deal for better times advantageous for Yerevan.

Also, Armenia, in concert with its powerful Diaspora across the globe, pro-Armenian political pressure groups, and media entities, kicked off an unfair and groundless anti-Azerbaijani campaign in an effort to torpedo Baku’s plans and hold it responsible for the alleged blockade of the Lachin road, where the border checkpoint was set up on April 23, 2023, in conformity with national and international laws.

Lachin border checkpoint

Alas, if Armenians had listened to the sound logic and learned a proper lesson from centuries-long enmity against Azerbaijan and Turks, there would have been no bloodshed, no war, and no violence. Trapped in a vicious circle, Armenia’s attempts remain futile despite abuses of France’s and other states’ resources to bring more pressure on Baku to satisfy the whims of nationalists at the service of states with interests in the region.

Amid Azerbaijan’s growing pressure on the regional secessionists to compel them to embrace the reality on the ground and fundamental changes evolving in Karabakh with the rebuilding of smart villages and cities, coupled with the cutting-edge infrastructure facilities, the Karabakh separatists resorted to another trick to mislead local rank and file Armenians, who have lost all hopes for “independence and secessionist movement” that amassed a fortune on the misfortune of own compatriots.

Sham polls and international denunciation

On September 9, 2023, the remnants of the Karabakh separatists made another disastrous mistake by holding a sham “presidential poll” in the encircled Karabakh with around 10,000-strong Armenian armed forces in defence of the separatists and their soaring ambitions.

The separatist parliament in the region elected Samvel Shahramanyan as the region's “interim president” and, according to observers, this move further deteriorated the situation by shutting the door on hopes for a peaceful conclusion to the bloody page.

Before the sham vote in “parliament”, Shahramanyan alleged that Karabakh must obtain a "status" and direct communication with Armenia through the Lachin corridor, adding that an alternative road could be put into operation as well.

Samvel Shahramanyan

He also spoke in favour of having "multilateral or bilateral" talks with Baku, this time again, without realizing the might of the Azerbaijani army in the region, which scared the Armenian leader so that he was compelled to call the presidents of France, Iran, the prime minister of Georgia to ask them to intermediate between Yerevan and Baku to save him from another defeat.

The international reactions were also quick to come to support Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and denounce the fake “presidential election” in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region.

Türkiye, Pakistan, the OIC, the Organization of Turkic States, Ukraine, Moldova, the EU, Georgia, the UK, the USA, and Uzbekistan considered the “conduct of so-called elections by the illegally-installed regime as illegal and morally reprehensible.

In another move, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan telephoned his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on September 10 to discuss the Azerbaijani-Armenian normalization process. On September 11, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also discussed Yerevan’s negative moves that keep derailing the peace process and pulling the region into fresh and unavertable crises.

Pashinyan said in a phone talk with French President Emmanuel Macron that he was ready to hold "urgent discussions" with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to reduce tensions though official Baku denied receiving any request from Pashinyan to this end.

In the meantime, tensions have been growing between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the past few days with the sides accusing each other of amassing troops along their undemarcated border as Karabakh held a presidential election on 9 September.

Skeleton in ex-Karabakh leader’s closet

Karabakh’s separatist leader Arayik Harutyunyan has left his post often referred to as a den of thieves after robbing millions, abandoning impoverished Karabakh Armenians face-to-face with the bitter reality.

In the meantime, Arayik Harutyunyan's former crony revealed compromising details about his personal life rolling in luxury with properties in Armenia, Cyprus, the USA, and Greece, surrounding his family as well as his second wife, who enjoys swimming in luxury.

A letter from one of the former cronies of the ex-separatist leader Arayik Harutyunyan has been circulating in Armenian-language Telegram channels since September 10. The author of the letter notes that behind the scenes, Harutyunyan remains almost the most influential figure among separatists, invisibly controlling many processes in the area and the new "president" Shahramanyan is the creation of his predecessor and is fully subordinate to him.

Arayik Harutyunyan

As the Azfront Telegram channel says, against this background, one of Harutyunyan's former closest associates, who was privy to his most intimate secrets, decided to make public the piquant details of his recent boss's personal life.

The reason was obviously the conflict between them, which, judging by the content of the letter, occurred relatively recently - most likely, after the appointment of the Kremlin's protégé Vardanyan to the "post" of the so-called "state minister" in November 2022.

As a result, the author of the letter publicly reveals one of the most important secrets of the "ex-president". It turns out that for many years, in addition to his official family, he had another – one that was kept secret.

As the letter reveals, the first wife, Kristine Harutyunyan, was unaware of the existence of her husband's second "wife" until now, whose name is Liana Adamyan, a well-known journalist and public activist. While Harutyunyan has three daughters from his first marriage, his mistress has two more children, a boy, and a girl.

According to a former crony, Adamyan lives in an apartment in an elite residential complex in Yerevan, regularly flies abroad strictly in business class, and stays only in the most expensive hotels. Moreover, after quarrels with her rich patron, she accepts only diamonds from him as a sign of reconciliation.

Liana Adamyan

Moreover, the lion's share of expenses for her beautiful life during Harutyunyan’s so-called “presidency” was covered by the budget of the separatists and all this occurred at a time when they kept issuing loud statements about "hunger", and "incredible suffering and deprivation" of Armenians in Karabakh.

Further, the author of the letter also transparently hints that the person who betrayed his official family and masterfully concealed it for years could have betrayed his own people just as long ago and, accordingly, could successfully conceal it.