Baku prison awaits: Criminal Balasanyan talks about returning to Garabagh

By Farman Aydin, AZERNEWS

Vitaly Balasanyan, a criminal who killed Azerbaijanis and once worked as the 'chairman of the security council' of the so-called regime in Garabagh, tried to grab public attention with his dull statement to the local press in Yerevan. He mentioned the return of the people of Garabagh but calling it 'artsakh', and peevishly claimed that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President Ilham Aliyev, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are responsible for this issue.

He also referred to the capitulation document signed by Armenia before Azerbaijan on November 10, 2020, through the mediation of Russia, and touched on the issue of the implementation of its articles. Balasanyan says that the provisions of the document 'must be implemented'. The question is whether the document talks about Garabagh, or, as he mentioned, artsakh in his own manner.

In general, according to international laws, a claim against the territory of a country and an illegal change of topographical name are considered crimes. Balasanyan tries to follow in the footsteps of Arayik Harutyunyan, Ruben Vardanyan, and others who are imprisoned in Baku. However, he still cannot imagine what fate awaits him with these confident actions.

Another issue in the document is related to the activity of Russian peacekeepers, which are considered necessary only if Armenians are present in Garabagh. Otherwise, the presence of Russian peacekeeping units in Garabagh is an additional waste of money and time.

At this time, we return to the main issue, which is the living of Armenians in Garabagh according to the current conditions:

First of all, it should be noted that the Armenians who left Garabagh for Yerevan with their own volition unequivocally renounced Azerbaijani citizenship.

Everyone remembers that until September 2023, Azerbaijan repeatedly appealed to the Armenians in Garabagh regarding citizenship. Despite various negative responses, Azerbaijan once again appealed to the Armenian community in Garabagh. However, the appeals remained unanswered, and as a result, Armenians had to decide for themselves whether to leave the territories.

Whether the Armenians living in Garabagh are ethnic Garabagh residents is still a separate issue. We know that thousands of Armenian refugees from Lebanon and Middle Eastern countries were brought to Garabagh during the occupation. At that time, Armenia tried to claim that it outnumbered Azerbaijanis in Garabagh, based on an artificial demographic indicator, before the eyes of the world community. However, Azerbaijan has statistical data on Armenians living in Garabagh during the Soviet period, and citizenship passports are issued based on these statistics.

In addition, terrorist organisations and some criminal groups that once operated in Garabagh had close relations with the residents living there. For example, many videos obtained by drones prior to anti-terrorist measures clearly show that civilians also played a role in smuggling weapons into the Garabagh region. In this regard, the Republic of Azerbaijan is still continuing the investigative search and has put those criminals on the list of internationally wanted people.

Certainly, the so-called artsakh politician Balasanyan, who spoke to thickets of microphones, is wanted by Azerbaijan himself, and he, like the others, is expected to be among those in Baku prison.

One thing that should not be forgotten is that the local residents of Armenia no longer believe in Balasanyan and similar elements who are trying to disrupt security in the South Caucasus. Armenia is still unable to recover from the heavy consequences of its defeat in the Second Garabagh War. During the negotiations on the return of 4 villages in Gazakh to Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia appealed to the local people with the following statement: "Today, Armenia should give the territories belonging to Azerbaijan. Otherwise, it may cost more for Armenia."

It seems that the Armenian leadership has learned from its mistakes in 2020, but the elements of the so-called regime still persist.