Revanchist forces have reactivated in Armenia. To come to power this time, the Kocharyan-Sarkisyan tandem is using the positive delimitation process between Azerbaijan and Armenia as an excuse, actively using the faces and resources of the Armenian church in the process.
The role of leader and face of the protests has been assigned to Bagrat Galstanyan, Archbishop of Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He accuses Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government of "surrender" and not fulfilling pre-election promises.
In order to stop the border delimitation process with Azerbaijan, the supporters of the "Tavush for the Motherland" movement led by Galstanyan marched from the village of Kirants (Kheyrimli) bordering Gazakh to Yerevan for several days. On May 9, the participants of the march reached Yerevan's Republic Square and held a rally there. In his speech on the square, Bagrat Galstanyan went further than the first students and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which was the main reason for the actions. Although he gave Nikol Pashinyan an hour to resign, his request was not fulfilled. After that, the priest called on peaceful disobedience actions throughout the republic, and called on the opposition factions of the parliament to carry out the impeachment procedure of Pashinyan.
It is clear from what happened that the organizer of the protest process, the "gray cardinal" Robert Kocharyan, prepared more seriously to come to power this time, drew conclusions from previous failures, and built protest technologies according to a different scenario. This can be seen from the similarities between Pashinyan's coming to power in April 2018 against the background of mass protests and the current actions, including the march to the capital and the acts of disobedience.
On the other hand, directing the main force to easily manipulated students who do not know the bottom of political processes, their active involvement in the action, and the use of Armenian residents of Karabakh in actions such as the "fifth column" show that serious preparations are underway. Observing the serious support of Russia's information resources and political circles to the protest also indicates certain nuances.
In addition to the parallels in the protest tactics, Kocharyan's refusal to be the face of the actions is also a factor that gives strength to the actions this time. Thus, he well understands that the citizens of Armenia hate the former members of the government, especially himself and Serzh Sargsyan, and that their leadership of the action will have a negative impact on the number of the protesting crowd. Kocharyan, who takes the way of controlling the processes from the background, needed a neutral person who would unite the scattered opposition forces, which could not be consolidated until now, and would be acceptable to all parties. That is why he chose the Armenian Apostolic Church and its archbishop of Tavush Diocese, Bagrat Galstanyan, who has a tense relationship with Pashinyan and pursues his own religious and commercial interests in the process.
Revanchists even go to the extent of violating the laws of Armenia, including Article 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution. Although religion was declared separate from the state, the churchman took the lead in political processes.
On the other hand, the biography of 52-year-old Bagrat Galstanyan is full of mysteries and questions. He studied theology in Leeds, UK and Montreal, Canada. In addition, he headed the Armenian Church in Canada for 10 years. Armenian media also wrote that he has Canadian citizenship, and later Galstanyan himself confirmed this fact.
As a continuation of this, former foreign minister Vardan Oskanian, who is known as Kocharyan's man, called Bagrat Galstanyan the most worthy candidate for the post of prime minister. Thus, it is forbidden by law for a person who is not a citizen of Armenia to be the prime minister. Nevertheless, the fact that Oskanyan made such a proposal, and Reverend Bagrat said that he is ready to take the post of prime minister "if there is a demand of the people and the instructions of Gareghi II", gives reason to say that the revanchists intend to overthrow Pashinyan, albeit illegally.
One of the noteworthy points is that the former co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group are among those who want to violate the agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The position of the former co-chair countries USA, France and Russia in this process is in complete contradiction with the process of regulating relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which reveals the true intentions of those countries during the negotiation process. It is clear from this that the former co-chairmen were never interested in a fair solution to their historic conflict. The most interesting part of this is that Washington, Paris and Moscow, whose interests do not coincide in any issue, have for some reason taken the same - pro-Armenian position - on the Karabakh issue.
The USA still makes inappropriate accusations against Azerbaijan, which has restored its territorial integrity and sovereignty, brings up ridiculous sanctions issues for our soldiers who liberated their land from 30-year occupation, France is actively arming Armenia, making political decisions against Azerbaijan at various levels, journalists and propagandists who are the mouthpiece of the Kremlin. and they do not want to reconcile with the conclusion of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, they openly call for the overthrow of the Armenian government, Pashinyan. The matter reached the point where Pashinyan decided to stop the broadcasting of some Russian TV channels in the country. It is clear that Simonyan, Solovyov and others are not doing this on their own, they are following instructions from the Kremlin. The list of steps taken by the former co-chair countries aimed at disrupting the Azerbaijan-Armenia settlement can be expanded. However, the general conclusion is that Kocharyan, through him, the Armenian Church is also inspired by the behavior of those countries to overthrow Pashinyan.
It seems that the organizers of the protests in Armenia and their inspirers are not interested in the wishes and fate of the Armenian people. This can be clearly seen from the behavior of priest Bagrat, which Kocharyan revealed. Speaking on May 9 at the Republic Square, Bagrat opposed the agreements with Azerbaijan and demanded Pashinyan's resignation. However, he did not reveal what they proposed as an alternative to relations with Azerbaijan, what their plans were. Because there are no alternative plans. The main and only goal for them is to come to power by any means.
It is interesting to see what steps Galstanyan and his curators will take in the future. Pashinyan's government has a clear "roadmap" for negotiations with Azerbaijan, and the main point here is that Yerevan recognizes Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and prepares for a peace treaty on the terms of official Baku. The return of 4 villages of Gazakh within the framework of the delimitation process was realized with the agreement of the delimitation commissions of the two countries within the framework of that plan.
Bagrat Galstanyan and the main beneficiary of the actions, Robert Kocharyan, do not reveal any solution to the Armenian society in this regard. However, there is no doubt that if the church-Kocharyan line opposes the return of 4 villages of Gazakh to Azerbaijan, or if they try to include a clause about Karabakh in the peace treaty with Azerbaijan, the revanchists should take into account the deadly consequences for Armenia if they come to power. Because it is clear that official Baku will never allow the cancellation of the agreements reached and the change of the course of negotiations.
Considering these factors, it is clear that the recent protests in Armenia do not bode well for the Armenian people or the region. In particular, the Armenian society, tired of the 36-year conflict, should make the right choice and should not once again become a tool in the hands of the Armenian Church, the Kocharyan-Sarkistan clan and their patrons, which has always been a nest of strife.
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