Ever since 1997 the Armenian society has been stuck in a mindtrap, the author of which was the first President of the Republic of Armenia. The main content of the "trap" has been as follows: Armenia has found itself in sharp clashes with its neighbors demanding recognition of the independence of Artsakh from Azerbaijan, and at the same time submitting a claim to Turkey to recognize Genocide. We can never establish good neighborly relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan until we reach a compromise, and, since, we are actually the aggressor and the claimant, we should naturally be the first to make concessions.
In addition, according to Ter-Petrosyan's logic, the international community will never allow Artsakh to be recognized outside Azerbaijan, since it is the guardian of the idea of territorial integrity. On the other hand, Azerbaijan and Turkey, which is the protector of its interests, will never come to terms with this reality and, having gained financial and military power, will solve their problems by force. Ter-Petrosyan wrote these theses in more detail in his article "War or peace? The moment to get serious".
If we retrospectively re-evaluate the past, Ter-Petrosyan's words seem to be quite logical, since everything is just the way it happened: Azerbaijan strengthened its army, gained Israel, Pakistan and Great Britain as its allies and won the war with their support.
However, that logic is broken in case of deeper observations, as at least two simple questions arise: a) Is the issue of Artsakh the most vital for Azerbaijan and Turkey? Will they be satisfied after the issue of Artsakh is conceded? b) Are the above-mentioned allies of Azerbaijan, as well as Turkey, interested solely in the issue of Artsakh, for which they have provided and continue to provide enormous military, diplomatic, intelligence and technological assistance to Azerbaijan?
If the answer to these questions is found, a completely different picture can be outlined, where Ter-Petrosyan's logic will collapse. It is impossible to establish good neighborly relations with concessions or, as he said, "compromises".
Ataturk's "far-sighted and wise thoughts" are often found on Azerbaijani websites (formulations are theirs - ed.): Mustafa Kemal Atatürk demanded from Lenin handing over and inclusion of a number of Armenia’s territories - Nakhichevan and Syunik in Azerbaijan at the cost of ceding all of Azerbaijan to the Soviet Union. Later, in the 30s, Turkey exchanged territories with Iran to have a Nakhichevan-Turkey border. In other words, Ataturk had already planned the project of creating a Turkic world so that, even after 100 years, there would be prerequisites for the Great Turan.
Ataturk was able to solve the issue of Nakhichevan, now they intend to solve the issue of Syunik, and the idea of a Turkic world extending from China, Siberia to Syria cannot be defeated by Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation. However, there are obstacles: Iran, Pakistan's arch-enemy India and Russia. On the other hand there are Iran's arch-enemy Israel, and Great Britain, which expects significant economic and geopolitical dividends from the Turkic world.
As we see, Artsakh and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations cannot play any significant role in this. The Ter-Petrosyan thesis of conceding and "living well", which trapped thousands of people, is doomed to failure. The current prime minister and the majority of his team who came to power from the street are also the bearers of that idea. We are witnessing the end result of it all.