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Abbas Ganbay

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The next country that expressed its "support" for Armenia was Greece. Greek Foreign Minister Yorgos Gerapetritis said during a joint press conference with RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan that Athens, within the framework of the EU and UNESCO, intends to initiate a campaign to preserve Christian monuments in Artsakh.

Ties between Yerevan and the European Union countries have visibly sharpened, with the latter wanting to get closer to the borders with Russia through Armenia. Up to this point, a dozen countries from the European Union as well as the West have visited Yerevan over the past few months. Each of the countries expressed their "support" for Armenia and blamed Azerbaijan for things it did not do. Countries that have voiced their support for Armenia also support the build-up of an EU "observer mission" on Armenian territory close to the borders with Azerbaijan.

Surprisingly, Armenia has already entrusted a "mission of observers" from dozens of European Union countries to enter its territory, which has never been seen before in the South Caucasus information field. The Greek Foreign Minister said that it is important for them to calculate and "understand" the scale and size of the damage caused to the cultural and religious monuments of "Artsakh". Greek Minister might have reconsidered rushing to help calculate the "damage", being aware of the damage caused by 33 years of Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

"We are ready to help Armenia and its people in every possible way to realise these initiatives. Armenia is an important part of Europe, there are rich historical ties. We will continue these steps towards rapprochement. We should not miss the moment and, along with the EU civilian observation mission, apply other instruments of rapprochement," the diplomat stressed.

Countries are all adjoining Armenia's borders and declaring "assistance", but in reality, everything looks like an illusion. Each minister and official who visited Yerevan in the past few months declared about providing housing to the Armenians who left voluntarily. Only France gave an "honorable award" and "status" of the honorary citizen to several Armenians, once again, for the illusion of "help".

The total amount of damage caused by Armenia on the territory of Azerbaijan exceeds $300 billion.

There is no doubt that the European Union will continue to move towards rapprochement with Armenia, and "promises" will continue to be made from the mouths of officials, which fundamentally contain a different nature of "aid and promises". For instance, Armenian blogger David Minasyan complains about the humanitarian food of dubious quality provided to the Armenian residents of Garabagh who voluntarily left Garabagh, which, as the blogger says, "it is better to immediately throw away".

It is also worth recalling that during the visit of the Greek Foreign Minister to Armenia, the Prime Minister of Greece promised to legalise same-sex marriages. According to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the legislative initiatives on legalisation of same-sex marriages and adoption for homosexual couples "is not something radically different from what already exists in many European countries".

The current "friends" of Yerevan may be bound by a strong "male friendship", and perhaps Armenia lacks European culture and its worldview, so it distances itself from Russia and the South Caucasus to join the more "cultured world of the West"

Greece has become the first Christian Orthodox country to approve same-sex marriage.

Former Armenian MP Azat Arshakyan said on Armenian TV that "Armenia was created on the historical lands of Azerbaijan," and this statement is not the last among Armenians who consciously spoke out without pressure from outside. Azat Arshakyan a former member of the Armenian parliament further said:

"We must recognise that these territories (of Azerbaijan) used to be the former Irevan khanate where Armenians from different parts of the world were settled. Although people of different nationalities used to live here, Russia also resettled Armenians here from the Ottoman Empire, where in the end Russia presented this territory (Irevan) as an Armenian province, and then as "Yerevan" province with Armenians living there. In reality, other people lived there.

The ex-Armenian MP believes that the world powers have used the Armenian people for their purposes in different years. According to him, Russia has never been a reliable ally for Armenia.

"They made these lands Armenian, but not for the sake of us Armenians, but in their interests. Russia had one goal, to provide overland communication with the countries of the Middle East. Then they swung for access to the Indian Ocean, where they also wanted access to Jerusalem.

As was to be expected, the MP then named a new ally for Armenia, which will be NATO. Co-operation with the North Atlantic Alliance will nullify Yerevan's dependence on Russia, Azat A. said.

"We always had to think about independence, but others decided to rely on other countries, to crawl at someone's feet, to hang on someone's neck, in a word, to be freeloaders, and it is the same today."

It should also be added that the war in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip, as well as Russia's war with Ukraine, provokes other countries to start clashes. NATO's recent buildup of forces and the formation of their bases are moving closer and closer to Russia's borders.

At present, the PTEC network has 34 centers, of which 18 are located in 13 countries of the alliance and 16 in 14 partner countries.

Many problems of the Greek foreign and domestic policy make the country actively participate in the modernisation of the alliance, and Greece's proximity to the Middle East makes it an important strategic partner for the US. The recent interactions of the North Atlantic Alliance countries with Armenia may have other goals than "helping" Armenia to restore and protect "their" cultural heritage on the territory of Azerbaijan.

It is about the military maneuvers, which are planned to be held annually on the territory of European countries since 2020 as part of the US Army's "Defender of Europe" exercises.

While in previous years NATO exercises were held alternately in Southern and Eastern Europe, this year's exercise should cover several theatres of military operations along the entire western border of Russia, including the Arctic direction.

The exact list of units participating in Defender-24 has not yet been announced: it is known about 500-700 planned air sorties, the participation of more than 50 ships, and 41,000 troops from 32 countries, including Sweden, which has not yet joined the alliance.

Considering the geographical scope of the "Defender-24", it can already be assumed that its scenario will be the practice of a strategic offensive operation against Russia.

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Abbas Ganbay is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @Noend33

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