By Levon Baronian
The Armenian government’s rush to finalize a peace agreement with Azerbaijan ahead of COP29 is not a product of naiveté or a misguided belief in diplomacy. It is an outright betrayal of the Armenian people, orchestrated by leaders who are willing to sacrifice national interests in order to cling to power. President Vahagn Khachaturyan’s comments about the need to abandon Armenian “dreams” in favor of pragmatism reflect a chilling alignment with the rhetoric coming from Ankara and Baku. For decades, these regimes have twisted history to paint Armenians as the aggressors in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Now, Khachaturyan, like Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan before him, seems determined to hand over Artsakh on a silver platter.
Khachaturyan’s claim that peace with Azerbaijan is necessary to move beyond the “warlike situation” that has defined Armenia for years is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to justify a treacherous capitulation. His language echoes the very propaganda that Azerbaijan and Turkey have used for over 25 years to vilify Armenians and justify their expansionist ambitions. Both nations have long worked to rewrite the history of Artsakh, casting Armenians as aggressors while they carried out ethnic cleansing and destruction of Armenian heritage. Armenia’s current leadership is now complicit in this distortion of truth, abandoning the 100,000 Armenians displaced from their ancestral homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh.
This is not about peace; it is about survival for an administration that has lost its way. Khachaturyan and his allies are not negotiating out of a desire for stability or reconciliation—they are doing whatever it takes to stay in power. Since Pashinyan’s rise to leadership, the Armenian government has steadily dismantled the country’s ability to resist Azerbaijani aggression. Pashinyan’s so-called “Velvet Revolution” has proven to be anything but a victory for the Armenian people. Instead, it has delivered Artsakh to Azerbaijan, fulfilling Baku’s long-standing goal of depopulating the region of its Armenian inhabitants. The peace agreement being pushed now is the final nail in the coffin for Artsakh’s autonomy and the rights of its people.
Khachaturyan’s cynical attempt to align Armenia’s future with international events like COP29 is a disgraceful betrayal. The Armenian government is aiding Azerbaijan in its efforts to whitewash its crimes, using the peace talks to provide legitimacy to a regime that continues to oppress and violate basic human rights. Azerbaijan has spent the past year building new settlements for Azeris in Nagorno-Karabakh, while Armenian refugees struggle to find stability in their own homeland. Yet, instead of standing up for these displaced Armenians, Khachaturyan is offering them empty promises and vague reassurances while rushing into a deal that will only benefit Azerbaijan.
The Armenian government’s betrayal runs even deeper when considering the ongoing detention of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. Khachaturyan himself admitted that the issue of POWs is not part of the immediate peace agenda. How can a peace agreement be considered legitimate when it ignores the fate of these men and women who have been tortured and abused in Azerbaijani prisons? This deliberate omission reveals the Armenian leadership’s willingness to sacrifice not only the displaced people of Artsakh but also the very soldiers who defended their homeland. It is a clear signal that Khachaturyan and his government are not negotiating for peace—they are negotiating for their own political survival.
What we are witnessing is not pragmatism; it is treason. Armenia’s leaders are actively collaborating with Azerbaijan to rewrite history and erase Armenian presence from Artsakh. Pashinyan’s revolution, which promised hope and change, has instead paved the way for the complete surrender of Armenian lands. The rhetoric from Yerevan increasingly mirrors that of Ankara and Baku, both of whom have long viewed the destruction of Artsakh as essential to their regional dominance. Khachaturyan’s talk of abandoning “dreams” is nothing more than an admission of defeat, delivered under the guise of diplomacy.
It is time to call this what it is: the Armenian government is selling out its people, not for peace, but for power. Khachaturyan and Pashinyan have abandoned the principles of justice, self-determination, and national sovereignty. By aligning with Azerbaijan ahead of COP29, they are enabling Aliyev to present himself as a statesman on the world stage, all while the wounds of Artsakh’s destruction remain fresh. The Armenian people must not allow this betrayal to go unchecked. True peace cannot be built on a foundation of lies, repression, and the abandonment of our national identity.
Armenia’s future cannot be dictated by those who seek only to protect their own political careers. The country’s leadership has proven that it is willing to sacrifice anything—its history, its land, and its people—in exchange for a few fleeting moments of international recognition. But the Armenian people deserve better than leaders who are content to sell out their own nation. If we do not hold them accountable now, we will lose not only Artsakh but the very soul of Armenia itself.
