17 March 2021, 08:29
Claims to 1921 Moscow Treaty unites Armenian opposition
Two thousand people went out to a rally demanding to invalidate the 1921 treaty signed by RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic) and Turkey, which defined Armenia's borders. The continuation of this policy was the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, protesters have stated. Seven Armenian opposition parties demand from the authorities to declare the treaty signed 100 years ago illegal.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since February 26, the "National Democratic Pole" movement has been holding actions dedicated to the centenary of the above treaty. On March 5, they announced that Armenia should diversify its sources of buying weapons and obtain the status of a US ally outside NATO.
The authors of the appeal stated that Russia is guilty of creating a threat of a new Armenian genocide as a party to the agreement of November 9, 2020, to end the hostilities in Karabakh. Russia must restore the Armenia's territorial integrity, violated, in the opinion of the authors of the appeal, by the 1921 treaty, and compensate for the caused damage.
The 1921 Moscow Treaty divided Armenia between Russia and Turkey, Vage Gasparyan, an activist of the above movement, has stated. According to his version, the Karabakh problem was a consequence of that treaty, since Bolsheviks transferred Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.
According to Garegin Chugaszyan, another activist of the movement, the treaty is illegal, since it was concluded by two unrecognized countries in relation to an internationally recognized one. He believes that the battles in Karabakh in the fall of 2020 were unleashed in order to create a Turkey-Russia transport corridor.
Zhirair Sefilyan, one of the leaders of "Sasna Tsrer", has listed three stages of overcoming the crisis. "At the first stage, we should create an interim government of national trust with an anti-crisis programme. The second stage is early parliamentary elections. At the third stage, national consolidation is needed to implement the programmes," he has stated.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 16, 2021 at 11:265pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Tigran Petrosyan, Armine Martirosyan Source: CK correspondents