Armenian gov't is like a poker player who has lost his cards

"Zugzwang" (means "compulsion to move" in German) is a situation in checkers or chess when one party is forced to make a disadvantageous move.

Simply put, it is a situation where whatever moves a player makes, he will face defeat.

We should admit that this term suits precisely the situation that Armenia faces today.

Moreover, it seems that the government of this neighboring country either does not understand what consequences its policies will soon have or is deliberately leading the state into an abyss.

Armenia’s National Assembly of Seventh Convocation started its fourth session in Yerevan on Feb. 1. The first meeting approved the agenda, which was divided into three sections.

As it became known, the deputies will be given 24 questions during the first segment of the discussions. The second segment has not yet been formulated, while the third one will cover 75 questions, including the ratification of 15 international treaties.

Armenian media reported that the agenda does not include the consideration of the Armenian-Turkish protocols on the normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations.  

So, what is the Armenian government trying to achieve? One thing is finally and irrevocably clear – Armenia did not want to open the Armenian-Turkish border and establish diplomatic relations with Turkey from the very beginning. If at first Sargsyan displayed a willingness to establish relations, forgetting about the clear requirement to recognize the so-called "genocide" of Armenians, the true face of Armenian diplomacy has emerged due to outside pressure.

This neighboring country would not oppose opening the border with Turkey. But Yerevan, of course, understood that Ankara will not do it without the withdrawal of the Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories. Everyone knows that the borders will not open otherwise.

As a result, Armenia decided to keep proactive and abandon a further development of relations with Turkey by injecting amendments into the protocols after a strange decision by the Constitutional Court. Sargsyan understood that the presence of these amendments would offend Ankara and its entire diplomacy. Turkey’s further actions in this case were quite predictable.

The weak Armenian parliament, which has failed to address serious governmental tasks, only pretends to be acting as the country's legislative body. Several days ago it released the agenda of its next session, without including the consideration of the Armenian-Turkish protocols.

Of course, it could add the protocols to the agenda and discuss them, but certainly not ratify them. However, this move would have discredited the Sargsyan government. Not putting the protocols on the agenda means not only refusing to ratify the protocols, but also refusing to consider them at all.

In addition, the Armenian parliament declared that the second segment of the session has not yet been formulated, thereby preserving the possibility of including these ghostly protocols in the legislature’s agenda. Why? Just to be on the safe side. At random ... hoping for the best.

So, the Sargsyan government looks like a poker player, who has lost cards in his hands, but continues bluffing, raise the stakes, hoping for something, but not understanding that no one will want to play the game proposed by Yerevan, because big politics is not a game of cards…

H. Hamidov