Former Artsakh state minister Artak Beglaryan, commenting on the Armenia-EU summit, expressed confidence that apart from the issue of prisoners, “no other issue related to Artsakh and Artsakh Armenians was discussed with European leaders.”
He added that one of the main goals of the protest actions had been to attract public attention, which created additional opportunities to bring their voice to different platforms, Pastinfo reported.
“From this perspective, we can say we achieved the minimum goal, but we all realize that our issues will not be resolved quickly through several protests and letters alone. Through these actions, we at least showed that we do not tolerate the current situation and that there are many unresolved problems requiring attention,” he said.
Beglaryan noted that letters addressed to European leaders had been sent to embassies in advance by email.
“They were presumably supposed to present them to their leaders’ offices, but we cannot say whether the letters actually reached them or not,” he said.
The former Artsakh official stressed that he could not say exactly what topics Nikol Pashinyan and European officials discussed during closed-door meetings.
“But I am confident that apart from the issue of prisoners, no other issue concerning Artsakh and Artsakh Armenians would have been discussed with European leaders, because Armenia’s authorities are clearly doing everything possible to completely close the Artsakh topic and ensure that the voice of Artsakh Armenians is not heard or reaches nowhere. That is why only the issue of prisoners remains as the sole humanitarian issue, also because there is considerable public pressure on this matter, and pressure must continue increasing so that Armenia’s authorities begin to act,” he said.
Beglaryan added that considering the approaches and priorities of both Azerbaijani and Armenian authorities, there is a high probability that some prisoners could be released before elections.
Commenting on the toasts delivered by Nikol Pashinyan and French President Emmanuel Macron during the state dinner held in Macron’s honor, where the officials discussed details of the October 6, 2022 Prague meeting and Macron’s characterization of those developments as “fair,” the former Artsakh state minister said the current situation cannot be considered just.
“International crimes have occurred — genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing. Moreover, Macron’s own official, the French foreign minister, used the term ‘ethnic cleansing.’ Or when Aliyev said Macron called him during the 2020 war and threatened to recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, not to mention numerous resolutions adopted by the French National Assembly and Senate, which clearly oblige French authorities because there are international obligations, decisions of the International Court of Justice and so on.
Apparently, Aliyev had to encroach on French territory and insult French officials for Macron to suddenly realize that a fair solution had taken place, or perhaps Nikol Pashinyan whispered in his ear that this was the fairest outcome for his government and Aliyev’s,” Beglaryan said.
Yerevan hosted the 8th summit of the European Political Community on May 4, followed by the first Armenia-European Union summit. Around 50 high-level delegations arrived in Armenia for the European Political Community summit, including European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. French President Emmanuel Macron also visited Yerevan, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made his first visit to Armenia.
