The View From Artsakh on a Lowered Benchmark

In a speech at Armenia’s National Assembly on April 13, 2022, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that preparations for a “peace treaty” will begin between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which will include the delimiting of borders. He mentioned:

“Today the international community tells us again ‘Lower your benchmark on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh a little and ensure greater international consolidation around Armenia and Artsakh.’

“Otherwise, says the international community, please do not rely on us, not because we do not want to help you, but because we cannot help you.”

In Artsakh itself, a fog of uncertainty rests over the streets of Stepanakert. People still come and go as before, open their shops on the avenue, mothers hurry to pick up their children from school, older men sit at Renaissance Square to chat.

In her stall located in Stepanakert’s main market, Naira prepares jingalov hats with a recipe passed down by her grandmother. She lost her son in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in the 1990s and her husband in 2020. Her job provides a therapeutic outlet to carry on, despite the stinging tragedy she keeps inside. That stinging feeling comes to the surface though when she recalls Pashinyan’s latest words. Naira brings her hand to her chest, feeling physical discomfort, then shrugs her shoulders in perplexity about what a peace treaty will mean for her and for Artsakh. Indeed, that is a point that is not yet clear for anyone. What does a peace treaty entail? In the backdrop of civilian shootings, gas interruptions and military advances in violation of the November 2020 ceasefire, the lack of concrete details makes the imagination run wild about just how Orwellian such a “peace” might be.

A group of young Armenian language teachers from Stepanakert School No. 3 sit at the base of the We Are Our Mountains monument, having a picnic. One of them imagines a scenario in which Azerbaijani police forbid them from gathering there. “In that case, the monument would also be demolished,” says his colleague, but the third speculates that cultural tolerance would prevail, even if Artsakh comes under full Azerbaijani jurisdiction. They continue to imagine what their near future might look like for a few more minutes, but then return to the present and discuss work.

In Martuni, Smbat repairs shoes in a small stall on the main street. As he attaches the heel of a women’s shoe to the sole, without taking his eyes off the footwear, he states that the world recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan including Artsakh, even before Pashinyan’s speech. “He said he feels guilty for hiding it, but it wasn’t a surprise. The only thing we hope is that he will not give up what is left of this land.”

Irina Safaryan is a young journalist from Hadrut. With her hometown occupied by Azerbaijani forces and inaccessible to ethnic Armenians, she currently lives in Stepanakert. Despite the complications of daily life and the irregular nature of basic services, Safaryan says the roots of the people to their land are strong. She describes Pashinyan’s last words about Artsakh’s fate as overflowing the glass of patience. “Here we are, more than 100,000 people fighting for our existence, and in Armenia someone decides that Artsakh should be part of the territory of Azerbaijan. Our main problem is security; if the question of Artsakh’s status is not resolved in the short term, either by recognizing its independence or annexing it to the mother country, the situation will get worse with time,” says the young woman.

According to Safaryan, there was no doubt that Armenia and Artsakh worked together, with the same goals, during the war. But after the ceasefire statement was signed, it became clear that the Armenian government planned to abandon Artsakh. “Just listen to the speeches of all the officials. They are not even clear about [the Republic of] Armenia’s own territorial boundaries,” Safaryan asserts.

One Voice

President Arayik Harutyunyan had scaled back his public appearances after the 2020 war. At that time, he had said he would resign once the situation allowed for the holding of an early election, but that has so far proved elusive.

The rumors of a possible signing of a peace agreement during Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Moscow on April 19, 2022, triggered a meeting in Artsakh between President Harutyunyan and Secretary of Artsakh’s National Security Council Vitaly Balasanyan, in order to convey Artsakh’s opposition to such a move. Little is known about what was actually discussed.

For his part, Artsakh’s Foreign Affairs Minister David Babayan is not staying silent. He assures that the political and social institutions of Artsakh reject any possibility of becoming part of Azerbaijan.

His facial expression reveals great concern about the prevailing situation, but his words are more direct: “Artsakh being part of Azerbaijan promises only one outcome: genocide, destruction and eviction.”

Babayan invokes the analogy of a critically injured soldier, who has lost a leg, an arm and an eye, but is still alive. “If we are alive, we have to fight, and there is still a chance to save Artsakh,” says the Minister.

The United States and France have indicated that they do not intend to continue cooperating with Russia in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is tasked by the United Nations with seeking a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Babayan states that the functioning of the entity has been frozen because of the co-chair countries’ positions on the war in Ukraine. However, he assures that the group has not been dissolved, which can only be done through the consensus of the states at an OSCE summit.

Speaker of Artsakh’s National Assembly Artur Tovmasyan also rules out ever joining Azerbaijan. Before Pashinyan’s speech, he had even reinforced the idea of the Republic of Armenia as the first guarantor of Artsakh’s security, followed by the role of Russian peacemakers in maintaining stability in the area, saying that “Losing a war does not mean losing a negotiation.” After the talk of “lowering the bar”, however, Tovmasyan immediately convened a special parliamentary sitting, during which all the political parties released a joint statement calling for Armenia to “abandon the current catastrophic position” and reaffirming their right to self-determination, which cannot be curtailed “under the pretext of ‘peace’”.

MP David Ishkhanyan, from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, agrees that the steps being taken by Yerevan are unsettling to the people of Artsakh and that basic principles need to be upheld. “The Artsakh National Assembly held a special sitting and all the political parties have the same perspective, which rather than refuting the Prime Minister’s perspective, was to reject the idea that Artsakh should be part of Azerbaijan,” Ishakhanyan said. He also added that, after gaining independence through a referendum more than 30 years ago, the state institutions of the Republic of Artsakh were established democratically. “Of course, the situation has changed after the 2020 war, but no one will tear away the right to self-determination of our people,” the parliamentarian concluded.

The stance of the parliamentary parties was reinforced by more than 80 civil society organizations in the social, academic, athletic and other spheres. They underscored the fact that the current legal and political status of the Republic of Artsakh has been shaped by the expression of the will of its people. Former Artsakh presidents Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasyan have also become more active in recent days, holding meetings with different political groups and figures with a view to consolidating a unified stance.

Government and opposition officials who spoke with EVN Report agreed that the parliament’s announcement represents the voice of the entire people of Artsakh. In this regard, former Speaker of Artsakh’s National Assembly and leader of the Democratic Party of Artsakh Ashot Ghulyan says that the scenario is complex and the war has continued in different ways, even after the signing of the ceasefire statement on November 9, 2020. Ghulyan illustrates the situation as “a crisis from which we cannot escape” and that the first priority should be to maintain Artsakh’s Armenian identity. “In the 1990s, we did not proceed with the annexation of Artsakh to Armenia, but declared it an independent republic. The purpose of this decision was to maintain the security of Armenians living in Artsakh,” he says.

Regarding Pashinyan’s speech, Ghulyan says that annexing Artsakh to Azerbaijan is not a price they can afford to pay. Every day counts, whether in the military, political arena or at the level of negotiations. According to him, “the Armenian authorities must speak in the language of those who lived in Artsakh for the past 30 years, and chiefly of those who stood on the front line.”

Ghulyan is disheartened by deepening political and social polarization in Armenia. Ghulyan views it important to pool all available resources—intellectual, military, diplomatic, economic—because we cannot afford to write off entire segments of the population. “Only a government that enjoys the trust of the people will be able to achieve this. Armenia’s governments have always had a duty to defend Artsakh. If they don’t, then people feel fooled,” says Ghulyan.

Artsakh’s leaders are speaking in one voice, unified around the declaration of the National Assembly. The restlessness in the air here derives from the uncertainty about where the Republic of Armenia stands. The feeling is that Artsakh and Armenia are on diverging paths, and a rift has appeared between their governments. The people of Artsakh are used to the indifference of other countries, but seeing it come from Armenia is something new.

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