"A gross political mistake by the Karabakh Armenian community". View from Baku
Haji Namazov on self-dissolution of unrecognized NKR
In two months, the unrecognized NKR will become history. The Armenian population of Karabakh is leaving the region en masse and heading to Armenia. Political observer Haji Namazov calls this “a gross political mistake of the Karabakh Armenian community”. “After all, if we are quite objective, no one threatened them after the end of the counter-terrorist operation,” he says.
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According Namazov, “the decree of the leader of the separatist regime in Karabakh on self-dissolution was one of the demands of official Baku. By accepting this condition, the unrecognized republic was able to stop the counter-terrorist operation, which could have ended deplorably for all its so-called leaders.”
“It is true that since yesterday some political analysts have been trying to convey to their public that Shahramanyan’s decree was illegal, saying that the independence of the separatist regime was declared by referendum, and supposedly should be also abolished by referendum.
This narrative did not appear by chance, as if with a plan for the future. But it is doomed to fail. Why? If the Armenians had remained on the territory of Karabakh in the number of several tens of thousands of people, then perhaps, decades later, the conflict could have arisen again. But most of the Armenian community decided to leave for the country of which they are citizens,” Namazov says.
“A grave political mistake.”
“This is a gross political mistake, which will have an effect on the Armenians of Karabakh. After all, to be quite objective, no one threatened them after the counter-terrorist operation was over. Armenians lived quietly side by side with Azerbaijani policemen and soldiers. But it’s all over now. The Armenian community in its overwhelming majority decided to leave Karabakh and move away.
I will not be original if I assume that a small part of them will return in the near future — within 2-3 years. It is not easy to get used to living in a different, unfamiliar place. Especially if you know for sure that, contrary to official propaganda in Armenia, there is nothing threatening you in Karabakh.
What did the Armenian community of Karabakh get as a result of the “miatsum” announced in 1988? Nothing. Figuratively, it can be compared to Alexander Pushkin’s well-known fairy tale about the fisherman and a fish. Only at the end of the fairy tale the old woman is left at a broken trough; in our case there is not even this trough.
In other words, what started with a huge political mistake ended with another, no less gross political mistake,” he said in conversation with our correspondent.
“The falsification is visible to the naked eye.”
“As for the very process of Karabakh Armenians moving to Armenia, the falsification is visible to the naked eye.
So far, official Baku has not publicized the number of Karabakh residents who crossed the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia these days. But experts are analyzing with interest the figures appearing in Armenian sources.
So, the number of Karabakh Armenians who moved to Armenia is growing with enviable stability. This growth has neither decreased nor increased over the past few days. Although we know for sure that on September 27 at noon Azerbaijani border guards closed the Lachin checkpoint for a short period of time to honor the memory of those killed in the second Karabakh war. But even this had no effect on the rate of growth.
It is clear that Armenia achieves two goals at once by this. First, for a long time Armenian officials and sources have been saying that 120 thousand Armenians lived in Karabakh. Although Baku and Russian peacekeepers have mentioned other figures, much smaller – from 30 to 50 thousand. Secondly, the greater the number of displaced Armenian citizens, the more assistance will be provided by international humanitarian organizations and other countries that sympathize with Yerevan,” Namazov said.
“The situation is changing hourly.”
“The predictions of those experts who believed that Azerbaijani security forces would not be able to enter Khankendi have not quite come true. Yesterday and today everyone saw video footage of Azerbaijani Interior Ministry vehicles moving through the streets of the center of the former NKAO.
I think that the process of establishing the power of official Baku on the whole territory of Karabakh will not be delayed even until January 1, when formally there will be no separatist regime. Because the situation is changing hour by hour, and I am sure that in early October the flag of Azerbaijan will be flying over the departmental buildings in Khankendi.”
