Where did we leave the real independence of Armenia?
Recently, the current rulers have been talking a lot about Armenia’s independence. This is perhaps one of the biggest lies ever told in Armenia’s political life. Unfortunately, we said goodbye to real relative independence in 2018, with the takeover of power against Serzh Sargsyan, organized with the support of external forces. Of course, many did not imagine that this would be one of the consequences. And, no matter how delicate the topic, it must be admitted that today’s Armenia is incomparably more dependent on external events than Armenia led by Serzh Sargsyan.
In the modern world, there are almost no absolutely independent countries, and we have often combined, if you like, adapted our national interests to the interests of our allies and partners. But our independence and sovereignty were so satisfactory that not a single leader of Armenia has ever retreated in the face of hostile or contradictory interests. Until 2018, we had sovereign interests, and our partner countries respected our national interests and decisions. During this time, we managed to protect the interests of our country and people without spoiling relations with partner countries.
What do we have today? Having lost most of the strategic positions of the state, today’s Armenia has become the most vulnerable and weak sovereignty in the region, whose national interests have been blurred and distorted, subordinated to the military-political and communication rearrangements taking place in the world and related to our region.
Our country was “forced” to go to war when there was a way to resolve the issue peacefully. And this war arose from the interests of other countries, not Armenia. Our country was convinced to abandon post-war Artsakh when there was a minimally sufficient opportunity to maintain the current status quo. This refusal also comes from the interests of foreigners, not our people. We are forced to conclude “peace” with a neighboring country, but again at the expense of the national and state interests of our country, because this is what is needed today. Our country is being “called upon” to forget about the issue of international recognition of the Genocide because others need it, not us. Without taking into account our vital interests, practically all parties with which the Republic of Armenia has foreign relations, willy-nilly, dictate their agendas to our country. We even recognize the independence of a third country not because we need it, but because others said so (or perhaps asked us to). Azerbaijan speaks to us in a frankly imperative and disrespectful language. Turkey dictates to us, linking issues with the interests of Azerbaijan. Russia speaks to us in the language of warnings and mistrust, all the while evading new security issues. Europe has drawn us into its global game, from which it can win, but we certainly cannot. Iran does not trust our country enough and is trying to resolve the issue of its northern route on its own. The global accountants of the United States, by and large, are not interested in our “democracy” or our security issues. The only support for preserving and subsequently restoring the resources of our real independence remains national unity and political and public structures that act to formulate and advance national interests, against which the current rulers have declared jihad. The attempt to “self-justify” their own conspiracies is that, according to the rulers, “they lost Artsakh, but gained Armenia.” It would be more correct and honest if they said that they initially lost their independence of governance, because of which they lost Artsakh, as well as the real sovereignty and stable security of Armenia.