The Prague Agreements lead to the surrender of Armenia and the destruction of Nagorno-Karabakh

We recently wrote about Nikol Pashinyan’s tour in Prague, where he attended the anti-Russian forum of EU heads of state, which was presented as a triumph of Turkish and European diplomacy in resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Now this turns for the Armenians into the liquidation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh) and the recognition of a subordinate position from Baku and Ankara.

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Official Yerevan also tried to pass off these meetings as its victory, hiding behind the support and mediating role of France and the European Union, which would supposedly protect and save Armenia from Turkey’s excessive appetites and lead the region to peace.

First of all, propagandists emphasized the meeting on October 7 between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Council President Charles Michel, as a result of which a final statement was adopted.

In this “epoch-making” appeal, which more closely resembles a declaration, all parties seem to have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to delimitate and demarcate borders as part of a future peace agreement.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan, once again demonstrating their commitment to the UN Charter and the Almaty Declaration of 1991, recognize each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. The parties stated that this is the basis for the activities of the delimitation commission and the next meeting of the commission should be held at the end of October in Brussels,” says the statement adopted following the quadripartite meeting.

Although the text of the ceasefire agreement dated November 20, 2020 contained the same words as in other statements and declarations adopted later. That is, at the moment these are only wishes, especially since firefights have not stopped on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan since October 7. The factor of “recognition of territorial integrity,” as we will see now, was needed for something completely different, namely for the legal justification for the liquidation of Artsakh.

That is why Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was so happy when he solemnly announced to the press on October 11 that almost all the agreements between Yerevan and Baku in Prague had been reached and constant consultations between the parties were underway in order to subsequently sign a full-fledged document and put those demands into practice , which came only from the Azerbaijani side.

“On the fundamental points - there were five - an agreement was reached. This includes recognition of each other’s territorial integrity, demarcation of borders, and so on. All that remains is to implement them,” noted the head of Turkish diplomacy.

At the same time, it was no coincidence that he pointed out that he linked the restoration of relations between Ankara and Yerevan with the negotiation process between Yerevan and Baku. Allegedly, they are inseparable and should take place together at all stages, as if Azerbaijan and Turkey are already one state.

What did Ilham Aliyev’s conditions mean in practice, which from the very beginning should be considered precisely as an ultimatum?

_{Firstly, this is the demand for the dissolution of the army of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh. Secondly, recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan without any autonomy. Thirdly, providing Azerbaijan with the Zangezur land corridor connecting Baku with Nakhichevan and Ankara. Fourthly, the beginning of work on the delimitation and demarcation of the remaining Soviet administrative borders. Fifthly, clarifying the fate of missing Azerbaijani citizens.}

It is interesting that despite the formal support from Paris, Nikol Pashinyan and the liberal ruling elite never put forward any demands of their own, and all discussions on October 7 and subsequent consultations took place only around the Azerbaijani agenda.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev himself speaks about this in his interview, noting that all decisions were made in favor of Baku:

“I think that if a decision is made in the near future, working groups of the two countries begin work on the text of a peace treaty, we will be able to reach an agreement by the end of the year.”

According to the Azerbaijani president, the peace process has “now accelerated,” and “no one, neither the Armenian side nor the Council of Europe, has any questions regarding the five principles proclaimed by the Azerbaijani side.”

_{Therefore, what happened in Prague on October 7 cannot be called full-fledged negotiations, since in fact there the current conciliatory leadership of Armenia was persuaded to admit its defeat and surrender all positions, which means the liquidation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the transformation of the country into a de facto Turkish protectorate.}

That is, France and the Council of Europe fully expressed solidarity and agreed to this takeover, and put pressure on Armenia, based on anti-Russian considerations and seeing the benefits of this for NATO and the entire collective West.

The dissolution of the Artsakh army and the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh itself as part of Azerbaijan is the same capitulation that lies under the neutral diplomatic term “recognition of territorial integrity.” This means not just a return to the situation of 1989, but to an even worse situation, when the autonomous rights of the Armenians living there will not be ensured at all, that is, not provided or guaranteed at all.

In addition, a de facto extraterritorial Azerbaijani-Turkish corridor will pass through the territory of Armenia itself.

_{That is, behind the backs of the Armenian people and the residents of Artsakh, a conspiracy took place, essentially a deal depriving them of sovereignty and independence.}

At the same time, the comprehensive plan proposed by Moscow in early October was not discussed at all in Prague and subsequently, although it was based on the provisions of trilateral agreements between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia dated November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021. This means one thing - they simply tried to throw Russia out of the “negotiation process.”

After all, it is obvious that in this way the EU, in collusion with Turkey with the support of the United States and Great Britain, through such “negotiations” is seeking to eliminate the last Russian outpost in the South Caucasus, destroying the last obstacle to the Ottoman expansion directed to the Caspian Sea and Central Asia.

_{Apparently that’s why Nikol Pashinyan suddenly started talking about the possible withdrawal of Armenia from the CSTO at the beginning of 2023, which will lead to the liquidation of the Russian base and the withdrawal of peacekeepers, since Nagorno-Karabakh will no longer exist. All this means a real national catastrophe for the Armenians and negates the entire history of the liberation struggle from Turkish rule and genocide, which was successful only thanks to Russia.}

In fact, many have already begun to see that things are heading towards a shameful capitulation and surrender of Artsakh. And already on October 8, hundreds of people came to the central square of Stepanakert and did not leave all night, demanding that the head of state, Arayik Harutyunyan, come to them. Otherwise, they threatened to start a riot. Only the chairman of the Nagorno-Karabakh parliament, Artur Tovmasyan, was able to calm them down, who promised that the president would then definitely appear on television.

True, despite all the desire of the liberal pro-Western elite, the EU and Turkey will not be able to do without Russia. Since, despite the Prime Minister’s desire to evade responsibility and abandon Nagorno-Karabakh, one cannot discount the residents of Artsakh itself, and even the citizens of Armenia, whom no one asked. By the way, political strategist Vigen Hakobyan also speaks about this.

“According to Pashinyan’s plan, a situation has arisen in which he no longer bears any real responsibility for Karabakh, but the Armenian population remains there and Russian peacekeepers remain. And therefore, other issues need to be discussed with Russia,” notes Hakobyan.

True, Western representatives hedged their bets and pushed through the decision to send a so-called EU civilian mission, which would have to work for two months. This mission should consolidate the adopted agreements and make them irrevocable. On October 12, this was confirmed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, which generally means the intervention of the European Union in the peace process.

_{This delegation will also have a propaganda character, designed to hide the true intentions and show that Moscow was unable to achieve a ceasefire and resolve demarcation issues, while the Europeans were able to do this in the shortest possible time.}

This is also the purpose of the noisy campaign against Russia, which is accused of refusing to support the republic and on which they are trying to blame for the defeat in the second Karabakh war.

I think that the Armenian people will also not sit idly by, and Moscow, despite being busy in the Ukrainian theater of action, will be able to build new tactics and prevent all the threats associated with the conclusion of such an unequal peace agreement imposed by the West.