Armenia ceases to be invisible - thanks to Azerbaijan

The friendly and constructive atmosphere that developed at the SCO summit in Tianjin, China, infuriated the Armenian revanchists. We are talking about the atmosphere that was observed between the top officials of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Armenia and Pakistan, and the fact that for the first time in many years, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was not invisible at an international meeting. They began to "notice" him a little after the war, and after the Washington meeting, they finally "saw" him.

In theory, the Armenian opposition should be happy about such changes. Because this is not about a personal attitude towards Pashinyan, but about the attitude towards their country as a whole. Of course, it is unpleasant for the former, represented by Kocharyan and Sargsyan, to recall the years of their own rule in this context, because they were both kept at a distance on world platforms. They were both shaking hands. Although Armenia had a lot of supporters and guardians, the capitals of the world knew perfectly well who was who, and tried not to get dirty by demonstrating excessive closeness to the occupiers. This attitude automatically passed on to Nikol Pashinyan, despite the fact that he was a Westerner and was positioned everywhere as the builder of "Armenian democracy." The fact of the occupation cut off Armenia's oxygen supply anyway. Local propaganda tried to offset this reality with selfie shots with Macron or Trudeau. But it didn't help much.

Serzh Sargsyan was especially fond of foreign trips. His reign took place during the years when the results of the First Karabakh War began to seem to Yerevan to be unofficially recognized by the whole world, and the occupying country was trying to spread its feathers and take off. However, it wasn't long before the April 2016 fighting, which showed the aggressor his true place.

So, Sargsyan was repeatedly poked in the face of the truth of life, pointing out to him who he is for the world community. In 2014, he went on a visit to Argentina, but in vain - his Argentine colleague did not accept him, citing his health condition. In 2016, Serge rushed to the nuclear security summit in the United States three days ahead of schedule to secure a summit meeting. But during the few days of the Armenian president's stay in the States, his presence was completely ignored, as if he were not there at all. Only Joe Biden, then the vice president, happened to notice Sargsyan. And Serge was forced to limit himself to hugging the diaspora and giving lectures at a couple of universities organized by her. Before that, Serzh Sargsyan had to endure humiliation in Spain, then in Italy. He was invisible, and only minor officials and diaspora figures noticed his presence.

Nikol Pashinyan also had to go through unpleasant moments. He himself, as a politician, may have aroused interest after the April 2018 coup, but as the head of the Republic of Armenia, he did not. Because the Republic of Armenia continued to be a toxic state for diplomatic circles, and even Yerevan's supporters tried to keep their distance in order to avoid trouble with Baku. The former knew about Armenia's status and huddled in a corner at international meetings to avoid giving journalists food for ridicule. But Pashinyan naively thought that his "revolutionary" fame had spread overseas, and at the NATO summit in Brussels in 2018, he tried to approach the US president. It turned out that Donald Trump has no idea who this bearded man is, sitting next to him and trying to pretend to be friendly. It was a big embarrassment, which is still being laughed at.

It was not a plus for the Armenian prime Minister that the American side did not write anything about his meeting with the Vice President of the United States, James Vance, which took place in Washington in February this year. Armenian journalists followed Vance's Facebook page, publications in the American media, reports from the office of the Vice President of the United States and the White House, but nothing was said about the meeting with Pashinyan. It's like there was no meeting at all. Everything indicated that Armenia was not being taken seriously in Washington, just like its leader.

Nikol Pashinyan dreamed of meeting with Donald Trump from the day he came to power. His dream came true only seven years later. Thanks to Azerbaijan. Let's not be mistaken if we say that for the first time in the history of Armenia's independence, the leader of Armenia became visible only thanks to Baku, which itself changed its attitude towards the Armenian leader, thereby giving the green light to other parties. The changes, as we have already noted, began after the Second Karabakh War. After the meeting in Washington, the process went even faster, and at the SCO summit in Tianjin, Nikol Pashinyan no longer felt like an outcast.

The meeting with his Pakistani counterpart and the decision to establish diplomatic relations with Pakistan are symbolic in this context. And it is not surprising that this meeting caused outrage in the revanchist opposition. We can imagine how many screams there will be after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Yerevan and Ankara. There is no need to guess about the scale of the revanchist tantrums that will certainly follow the signing of the peace treaty and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan - they will be huge. 

The revanchists cannot remain silent, although they understand that no one hears their voices not only in China or the United States, but even in Armenia itself. They don't want to admit that their country's place on the world stage has started to change over the past couple of months. Once upon a time, the Armenian society was told that this place would definitely change even without eliminating the occupation of the neighbor's territories. We just have to wait. As the years passed, two new generations of Armenians grew up, and Armenia remained on the margins. Gradually, even optimists began to suspect that in fact, no one in the world recognizes or recognizes the "historical rights" of Armenians to Azerbaijani lands, and the process is dragging on only because someone needs the conflict.

Pashinyan is being attacked not only for his agreements with Pakistan. Fierce criticism is being leveled at the Armenian prime minister for his openly happy expression at the meeting with the Azerbaijani leader and for the friendly photographs.

Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that it will be very difficult to reverse the processes that have begun.