VICKEN CHETERIAN

If in the Middle East we did not have so many other problems, may be we would have discussed climate change and its impact on our lives. But no, not now, we are too busy with our never-ending self-destruction.

Now, a year after the war started, and nearly eleven months after it ended, the positions of the conflict sides and influential powers changed dramatically. Yet, the war did not put an end to the conflict; it just transformed it.

Why did Turkey support Azerbaijan in its war effort? Why Turkey continues to impose economic blockade against Armenia from the first day of its independence? Isn’t this the legacy of the 1915 Genocide?

The results of June 20 snap parliamentary elections in Armenia reconfirmed the leadership of Nikol Pashinyan, in spite of the 2020 military defeat. With the new parliament including forces representing two former presidents, the entire political system has taken a new shape.

Snap Parliamentary Elections will be held in Armenia on June 20. Will anything survive from the promises of the 2018 peaceful revolution?

I will not ask you for justice, as I know your justice fails to face the crime of the crimes. How could human justice tackle the uprooting of millions, the robbing of their churches, schools, homes, gardens and even cemeteries?

In Armenia, the political crisis is caused by the 2020 Karabakh War and defeat, which intensified the internal power struggle that was on-going since at least since the 2018 regime change. This is an extraordinary crisis since political institutions, even ones well established, have difficulties in dealing with political challenges that emerge from war, military defeat, and territorial losses. Yet, Armenian institutions are evidently not developed enough to face the task.

Now, in power now for over two decades the “Putin system” shows signs of fatigue. Paradoxically, Vladimir Putin is vulnerable more than ever to street pressure now that he ensured total control over Russian political institutions.

The first reason for the failure of the Arab Spring was therefore regime repression. It is not enough to have a “revolutionary crisis” to produce “revolutionary change”.

During the parade, he not only shared the victory with the Turkish leader, but also seemed to be a junior partner in the achievement. The participation of Erdogan might be explained by the important role Turkey played in enabling Azerbaijan win the war.