Kocharyan: The desire to get closer to Istanbul stems from Pashinyan  realizing that the EU is a " fairy tale"

ArmInfo.Nagorno-Karabakh was lost by Armenia because Yerevan, without consulting Russia, signed a statement recognizing it as part of Azerbaijan, as stated by Robert Kocharyan, Armenia's second president and the "Armenia" bloc candidate for prime minister, in an interview with the RBC TV channel.

According to him, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia had initially  agreed to a Russian peacekeeping presence. However, as soon as one  party exits this framework, it collapses. "In essence, by signing  that document, Armenia stepped out of this framework, but then told  Russia, 'Figure it out with Azerbaijan however you want' [...] The  framework collapsed, but they very successfully shifted the blame  onto Russia," Kocharyan said. In his opinion, it would have been  possible to "save Karabakh by preserving this framework."

Speaking about the rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey,  Kocharyan noted that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is  trying to rewrite history in an attempt to please Turkish President  Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kocharyan believes that the Armenian  authorities' rhetoric regarding the need to "close the sad chapters"  of Armenian-Turkish history—effectively stepping over the Genocide  and the fact that Mount Ararat is located within Turkish territory—is  directed precisely toward this goal. The desire to get closer to  Istanbul stems from Pashinyan's understanding that the EU is a "  fairy tale." "He understands that joining the European Union is a  kind of fairy tale, but in reality, it's about shifting priorities  away from Russia toward Turkey. I think he understands this perfectly  well. This isn't about joining the EU; it's about replacing Russia's  regional influence with Turkey's," the politician clarified. At the  same time, the modern world is moving from unipolarity to  multipolarity, he noted, adding that the bloc Pashinyan aspires to  join is "far from its best shape." "If you care about the country,  you should care about the people and not risk those under your  responsibility," Kocharyan believes.

Kocharyan called the "Trump Road to International Peace and  Prosperity" (TRIPP) project a massive advertising campaign, arguing  that a 42-kilometer stretch of road has been "hyped up into a project  of planetary proportions." He also believes that the project offers  no economic benefit to Washington, but it does ensure an American  presence on the border between Iran and Armenia. "This is a clear  interest of the United States—to keep an eye on Iran," the former  Armenian president emphasized. He added that the signing of the  agreement by the parties to launch the project does not guarantee  that these transit routes will operate to Armenia's benefit. Yerevan  needs to scale the project and bring in other players viewed  favorably by Tehran—such as Russia or China—in order to mitigate the  risks of a backlash from Iran.