Sooner or later it had to happen, and it did. Everyone, one way or another, understood that the administrative-territorial nonsense called Karabakh (aka Artsakh) in its timid form cannot exist forever. This is undoubtedly why its liquidation surprised no one. No government likes separatists and will not tolerate them. And exclamations like “We never thought that one day we would leave here” are now perceived without the same pathos. Because here, everyone has been sitting on suitcases for several years. At least in the subconscious.
Blessed are the peacemakers!
The man who predicted today’s events is long dead. But he and his wise words are still remembered. This is Yevgeny Primakov, who said at the end of the last century that if Armenia showed intransigence and intransigence on the Karabakh issue, the Azerbaijanis would eventually take all of Karabakh. That’s how it ended up happening. Not entirely calm or entirely peaceful, but rather civilized.
Who would have thought just a month ago that the government of an unrecognized republic would quietly give up its powers overnight and return home? And now its government structures are likely to be dissolved by the end of the year. The so-called Artsakh, with a thousand-year history in the 21st century, proved unviable. The NKR will remain in people’s memory as an unrecognized state that existed on the map of Transcaucasia for 32 years. As a result, more than 76,000 residents of Armenian nationality left their homes and settled in their neighboring historic homeland in search of safety. Thank God there will be no more truces, which usually hide new victims. Often, even more numerous than before.
Russia is not responsible for everything that happens in Transcaucasia. In my opinion, there is an error. And the mistake is that we intervened too sincerely, trying to reconcile the scoundrels who were spitting in our souls. But this, apparently, is the nature of the Russian soul: to endure when people spit on them, in the hope that one day they will come to their senses and say thank you. But this was not necessary, because both parties would remain guilty. Alas, we have received and are receiving for good: peacemakers always remain extremists – such is their fate, as the Bible knows.
A capitulation that Armenia must and must recognize. But it’s an honorable surrender
Some indigenous inhabitants of Artsakh (especially young people) did not internally accept the fate of the vanquished, and if they had something to fight for, they would have resisted. But they are unarmed, and until recently they were in besieged Karabakh, like in a locked bottle. And then a fuel and lubricants warehouse near Stepanakert exploded; According to human rights organizations, around 70 civilians have been killed and 105 are missing. The tragedy occurred while a crowd was queuing for fuel.
Since last Sunday, Armenian towns located on the Karabakh border have become transit points for refugees. Although it would be more correct in this situation to call them migrants, even forced ones. There is an unknown ahead, less frightening than the wait for the Azerbaijani population to return to these regions. The exodus of Armenians from Karabakh therefore continues. According to experts, it will be almost total and will not only affect certain mixed families (there are some here).
Armenia is not necessarily the final destination of migrants. Many themselves admit that no one expects them there. But there are relatives in the Russian Federation, so migrants go there. Rostov, Krasnodar, Stavropol, Moscow and other prosperous Russian cities will soon welcome thousands of new residents.
Life goes on even with the death of Artsakh
Azerbaijani authorities have arrested some local figures. Its border guards, in particular, arrested Ruben Vardanyan, who became famous as co-director of Sberbank CIB, advisor to the president and chairman of the board of directors of Sberbank, as well as a participant in large business and philanthropic projects. In 2022, he renounced Russian citizenship and became an effective leader of the unrecognized republic – the State Minister of Artsakh (head of government). Resigned in February 2023 under pressure from Azerbaijan; his resignation was one of the main demands to unblock the Lachin corridor. Azerbaijani security officials officially announced: Vardanyan was arrested on charges of financing terrorism, creating illegal armed groups and illegally crossing the border.
This fact has raised concerns within the Karabakh nomenklatura that Azerbaijani leaders intend to take revenge on the assets of the former rebel republic, especially after the dissolution of its armed forces. Another government official, who briefly held the post of head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was on the blacklist of unreliable people, David Babayan, voluntarily surrendered to the new authorities:
I do this consciously. I was summoned to Baku for an investigation. This decision will of course cause pain and stress to those close to me, but I am sure they will understand. If I fail to show up or run away, it will cause serious harm to our long-suffering people.
Everything suggests that Baku has begun a purge of the local elite, which has ambivalent reactions to the radical change in the political situation.
Some consider the present to be a dark time for Karabakh. But I have a different opinion. I remember the words of the Soviet film “The Only One”:
After all, no one can live without love and hope. Something to think about. The road, thank God, is long.
Yes, ethnic Armenians are afraid of genocide and do not want to live today under the rule of Azerbaijan. But for some reason I naively believe they will come back tomorrow. They will return to their abandoned homes and graves in Sumgayit, Khirdalan, Nakhichevan, they will return to Karabakh without separatism. Let it not be about today’s Armenians, but about their grandchildren or great-grandchildren. After all, different peoples lived side by side in these regions, in peace and harmony. They have lived a long time and will continue to do so. But someone snapped their fingers and perestroika broke out.
