Azernews.Az

Qabil Ashirov

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The representatives of the Garabagh clique, known as revanchists, in the Armenian parliament, continue to play with fire. The footage of MP Anna Mkrtchyan, a member of this clique, sticking an Armenian map—showing Azerbaijan’s Garabagh and seven adjacent districts as part of Armenia—to the tribune of the parliament, has circulated on social networks and sparked ambiguity.

Needless to say, such actions reveal the true intentions of Armenia and cause a loss of trust in Armenia's ostensible peace initiatives within Azerbaijani society, whose memory is rife with Armenian war crimes and atrocities inherited from the First Garabagh War. On the other hand, it confirms the duplicity of Armenian politicians.

As is known, taking advantage of political turmoil in Azerbaijan and the region on the eve of the USSR’s collapse, Armenia invaded Garabagh and seven adjacent districts surrounding Garabagh, which are integral parts of Azerbaijan. It is worth noting that the invaded territories equaled 50 percent of Armenian territories.

Due to the war, 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia to Azerbaijan. Over 750,000 people living in Garabagh and the adjacent seven districts were forced to depart their homelands with nothing but the clothes on their backs, leaving behind properties accumulated over decades, and were dispersed throughout Azerbaijan. Over 15,000 Azerbaijanis lost their lives, and tens of thousands were wounded.

Spinning the world around its little finger, Yerevan tried to pass off its fabrications as so-called “realities or facts.” Thus, Yerevan claimed as though it was not Armenian authorities but Armenian residents of Garabagh who fought against Azerbaijan to gain their so-called independence “based on self-determination”. They used to claim that they were not interested in the invasion of the seven districts. Ostensibly, these territories served as a buffer zone or as a bargaining chip for the independence of the so-called republic. Even Serzh Sargsyan publicly noted in his speeches and interviews that Armenia was ready to leave the 5+2 regions.

As the proverb goes, lies have short legs. Armenian lies did not live forever, and in 2020, Azerbaijan was obliged to reclaim its invaded territories by breaking through the Armenian army. In 2020, hope for eternal peace between the two countries arose, but for unknown reasons, Yerevan has been avoiding signing a peace treaty by inventing certain excuses. Also, against the backdrop of all these events, it is rapidly arming itself. For example, in recent years, Armenia has doubled its military spending and is purchasing lethal offensive weapons from many countries, primarily France and India.

However, the recent event, Mrs Anna Mkrtchyan’s demonstration, provides us with insight into why Armenia is avoiding signing the peace treaty. The recent event is the pent-up reality of Armenian dreams, confirming that they have not learned a lesson from the conflict. Thanks to the recent event, the world once again witnessed that their appetite is not limited to only Garabagh, a concept of miatsum. They want to create Great Armenia, an elusive country stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea in the north, and from the Arabian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea in the south.

To top it all off, this action proves that peace talks with Armenia are hanging by a thread. Whenever the clique ascends to power, Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan will restart. So, Azerbaijan’s demands to change the preamble of the constitution are well-founded, and Azerbaijan should not step back from this demand by any means.

In addition, Azerbaijan should go to extra lengths to prevent Armenia from arming itself or should keep pace with Armenia in terms of arming. The recent actions give us a basis to claim that Armenia can attack Azerbaijan at any time. However, as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated, they cannot compete with Azerbaijan in this regard. Being threefold smaller than Azerbaijan in terms of population and territories, Armenia is just wasting its resources in vain.