For a picnic with Karapetyan – who will go to occupied Kyarki?

For a picnic with Karapetyan – who will go to occupied Karki?

The revanchist opposition, represented by Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party, continues to try to score points. On the occasion of Armenia’s 35th anniversary of independence, provocateurs went to the occupied Azerbaijani village of Karki and staged a tree?planting campaign there.

Armenia as a whole is in a very deplorable state. There are areas that require not just tree planting, but the creation of basic conditions for human life. However, the Karapetyan PR campaign chose the village of Karki, which was renamed “Tigranashen” after the occupation. It should be noted that Karki was the first Azerbaijani settlement occupied by Armenia — it was captured in 1990.

Narek Karapetyan has already come up with a name for the newly planted vegetation zone — “Independence Park” — and promised the local residents “development.” When we compare the plans of the Karapetyan party with Ostap Bender’s “New Vasyuki,” the analogy is direct. Narek Karapetyan, nicknamed “Uncle’s Bun,” intends to turn the occupied territory into a regional tourism hub, attracting rivers of tourists from all over the country and abroad. The younger Karapetyan reassured those who are worried that the authorities won’t allow this arbitrary action. He said that permission is only needed for the restaurant, and everything else can be done starting tomorrow.

These provocations are a response to Nikol Pashinyan’s intentions to establish the legitimate Tigranashen in another location and relocate the current residents who are illegally occupying the occupied Azerbaijani village there. Some of these people may not be aware that they have been living on foreign lands for 36 years. But overall, it seems that the so?called “Tigranashen residents” are well aware of the situation. And, as we have previously written, they are gradually reducing their activity in these territories. They understand that the village will be returned if the prime minister has already spoken about it in concrete terms, calling the settlement by its real name. The revanchist opposition, on the other hand, is trying to incite the locals to protest, to make them think that everything might turn out differently from what the authorities plan.

Karki today is a sore point; by targeting it, the revanchists hope to build up support. Samvel Karapetyan, for example, could finance some useful project, perhaps in the poorest Shirak region. If he is so concerned about the well?being of the Armenian people, he could help eliminate the consequences of the Spitak earthquake, which are still evident 40 years after the disaster. He only made the people of Shirak happy with his visit as part of a PR campaign. He promised the world, promised to turn the impoverished region into the same “New?Vasyuki”, and then left, leaving behind a trail of expensive cologne. Dazzled by the billionaire’s appearance, the people of Shirak then spent some time smiling foolishly and calling him “a light for Armenia”. But the smiles faded quickly, just as quickly as the revanchists forgot about their problems.

The opposition has a new focal point — Karki. This is where they can get more benefits and make a strong statement in their confrontation with Pashinyan. Pashinyan calls the village Karki, and they are deliberately creating a “park of independence” there. Pashinyan plans to build a proper Tigranashen, if people really like that name, and the revanchists, in defiance of him, plan to gather the whole of Yerevan in Karki for picnics. A license to start a tourism business in Armenia is indeed not required. However, this doesn’t do much to promote tourism. This is not surprising if those who have billions prefer to invest in political projects, which is what “New Tigranashen” is.

No matter how colorful the revanchists’ promises may be, the residents of the occupied village should take a critical view of what is happening. When the trees planted by Karapetyan grow up, they will probably already be living elsewhere. It’s better not to interfere with the government’s plans. If there are doubts that they will be implemented, we can turn to recent history and recall what happened around and during the return of the villages of the Gazakh district to Azerbaijan. Protests and hysterics did not help. They will not help in this case either. The fact that a strategic road has been built through the village cannot serve as an argument in favor of continuing the occupation. The fact that in Armenia the occupation was considered eternal and unshakable is a problem that the neighbors will have to deal with on their own, and in a mandatory manner.

Of course, we cannot know for certain about Nikol Pashinyan’s plans. But the fact that the Armenian prime minister refers to the village correctly and claims that there is no “Tigranashen” in Armenia leads to certain conclusions. It is possible that the Karki issue is on the agenda and Yerevan has no way out. This is not just a matter of delimitation. This is a broader and more serious problem, which is becoming even broader and more serious due to the intervention of the revanchist opposition, which believes it can change the course of history.