Armenia becomes irrelevant in CIS

By Azernews

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Incompetence of the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan only aggravates the political situation of Armenia and leads the country to even greater poverty and hopelessness. Pashinyan managed to spoil relations even with Russia, which market is like coming up for fresh air to the Armenian economy. Instead of resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ending the occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan, thanks to which Armenia could get a normal future.

Armenia refused to attend a meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS member states ended in Baku on October 31.

Delegations of the military departments of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended the meeting. Not being a member of any military union, Azerbaijan at the same time cooperates in the field of defence with the states of this area and even makes a contribution to it.

Based on the results of the Baku meeting, the Concept of Military Cooperation of the CIS states until 2025 was approved. The Concept outlines joint activities for next year and the near future, as well as measures aimed at achieving a new level of cooperation. It is important that the project is prepared taking into account national interests and their combination with the joint priorities of CIS members.

The countries representing the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) participated in discussions at the meeting, which emphasizes the connecting role of Azerbaijan between the two organizations. In general, the security agenda in the post-Soviet area is practically the same, in which Armenia apparently has no place.

The meeting has a broad agenda and the states gathered in Azerbaijan are capable of resolving defence and security issues without Armenia. On the contrary, Armenia brings tension to this system and hinders its strengthening

Defense Minister David Tonoyan’s absence from the Baku meeting outlined another interesting point.

Armenian media reports indicates that that under ex-president Serj Sargsyan, there has been reached an agreement not to hold such meetings either in Yerevan or in Baku for well-known reasons. This agreement has so far been respected.

"What has happened to violate this deal?" they wonder in Armenia.

If such an agreement really existed and was violated, then it is actually a cold shower for Armenian foreign policy.

The absence of Tonoyan in Baku did not stop the meeting participants from gathering in the Azerbaijani capital without Armenia. Moreover, the defence ministers of the participating states visited the Alley of Martyrs, paid tribute to the heroic sons of Azerbaijan who fell in the struggle for independence and territorial integrity of the country and laid a wreath at the monument to the Eternal Flame.

No doubt, holding a meeting in Baku is annoying Yerevan. Despite Pashinyan’s attempts to show himself as an ally of Moscow, his speeches cannot deceive anyone. The Kremlin sees a double game led by the Pashinyan regime, stubbornly wishing to reduce the presence of Russia in Armenia.

Therefore, it is possible that the meeting was specially held in Baku in order to send a signal to Armenia, which could not prevent this.

There is a well-known truth:  the absent it is always the wrong. The stubborn refusal to visit Baku looks strange against the background of the points of commitment to peace and readiness to implement peacekeeping initiatives with a view to achieving it, which the Armenian authorities stubbornly present at international sites as key in their position on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

A logical question arises: if there is such a desire for peace and dialogue with the Azerbaijani society, why Yerevan again refuses to come to Baku to participate in international events? Why aren’t such opportunities used to try to establish some kind of contacts for the further promotion of their peace ideas? There is a simple answer: Armenia's theses on peace are fiction.

Armenian political analyst Tevan Poghosyan doubts the adequacy of the post-revolutionary Armenian authorities, accusing of failure of justification of own policy. He added that the Armenian society cannot understand why the country refuses to participate in international venues in its interests in Baku, given that Aliyev always guarantees the safety of Armenian participants in Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, there are discussions in the Armenian society about excessive love of Armenian officials for foreign business trips. The local press constantly writes that the travel budget has been exhausted long before the end of the fiscal year in most departments. It is noteworthy that the relevant structures fail to refute information. Apparently, trips to the U.S., European countries or Russia are much less responsible than visits to Baku. In addition, they do not require special training and aren’t stressful.

Indeed, trips to Azerbaijan are unlikely to give equally pleasant emotions to Armenians, but government officials (if they respect themselves and state as well) are obliged to go to Baku in the interests of a country that provides them with unlimited tourism opportunities at the expense of their own citizens.