Turkish Forum

Category: Authors

  • The European Union is Due to a Dramatic Change 

    The European Union is Due to a Dramatic Change 

    In the UK, it is already clear that the current Conservative Party will lose the general elections to be held on 4 July by a landslide.

    In the USA, Presidential elections will be held in the first weeks of November.

    In the European Union, elections will take place this week, starting on Thursday morning and ending on Sunday evening. The course of events is contrary to the principles of the formation of the European Union.

    Let us go back a little and then I will come to the point.

    In 1945, after the Second World War, which ended with the defeat of Germany and the victory of the USA, the leading countries of the European continent, such as England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, etc., saw becoming a political/economic colony of the USA as salvation in order to develop and return to the old days.

    Under pressure from the USA, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Luxembourg and the Netherlands united in 1951 to establish the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in order to strengthen the coal and steel sectors, the two basic raw materials of industry. The USA tightly controlled the ECSC both politically and economically. All the necessary capital was provided by US companies.

    As a second step, in order to expand its export market and to dominate the global economy and the financial world, the US forced the ECSC members and Britain to grant independence to their colonies. It took until 1967 for European countries to grant independence to their colonies. France continued to rule its colonies with critical minerals from behind the scenes until today, as if it had granted independence to its colonies.

    Going back to the beginning, it is certain that the Conservatives will lose power and the Labour Party, the main opposition party, will win the elections in the UK, which will start this week and continue until the end of the week. Although the first and second days of the elections will be official working days, voters who cannot take leave from their workplace will be able to cast their votes through methods such as ‘postal voting’ and ‘proxy voting’, which are not in force in our country yet.

    In the European Union elections, the nationalist and conservative parties are on the rise, while the Liberal and Green parties are on the decline. Despite the rise, nationalist and conservative parties are divided into two groups within themselves. One group is pro-US and the other is anti-US.

    In the European Parliament, some groups will lose seats while others will increase their capitulation. Of course, it is already becoming clear which groups will gain strength. In particular, the Renew Europe group, which includes French President Macron’s list, will lose 17 per cent of its seats. On the other hand, the Identity and Democracy Group (Identity and Democracy), formed by nationalists, will rise two places and take the 4th place.

    Although Germany and France, the pillars of the EU, have been in serious disagreement for several years, France, Germany and Italy will increase their number of seats in the Parliament. This indicates that the absolute influence of the USA on the EU will continue.

    The most important development will take place after the elections to the European Parliament.

    The issue of ‘ending veto rights in the European Union or ending unanimous voting and decision-making processes’ will be on the agenda of the European Parliament.

    Over the past 12 months, tens of thousands of EU citizens have submitted their opinions to the ‘Conference on the Future of Europe’, where the future of the European Union and their concerns were discussed. The most important conclusion of the conference was that ‘the European Union must reform in order to survive in tomorrow’s world, and that veto rights in the European Union must end and decisions must be taken by majority vote’.

    What will happen as a result? Countries such as the so-called ‘Republic of Cyprus’ will no longer be able to use the European Union for their own political and financial interests with the ‘Veto Right’ and hide behind the European Union.

    In summary, it seems that different developments will take place in the coming years, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East geography…

    Prof. Dr. (Civ Eng), Assoc. Prof. Dr. (Int. Rel) Ata ATUN

    Member of the Advisory Board of the TRNC President

    TRNC Republican Assembly 1st Term Deputy

  • Rather than Fizzling out, the Movement To Replace Pashinyan is Gaining Strength

    Rather than Fizzling out, the Movement To Replace Pashinyan is Gaining Strength

    Even since Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan with his thousands of followers started marching towards Yerevan, many wondered what would happen on May 9 once they reached the Republic Square where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s offices are located.

    After arriving in Yerevan, Bagrat Srpazan gave one hour to Pashinyan to resign. When the hour was over and he did not resign, Srpazan announced that there would be acts of civil disobedience throughout the country beginning the next day. He urged his followers to act peacefully and not to commit any acts of violence.

    Pashinyan was hoping that the number of protesters would dwindle over time and the movement would fizzle out. The regime did everything in its power to vilify and defame Srpazan and the protesters. Government propagandists announced that there were merely around 20,000 protesters in the Republic Square on May 9, whereas most observers estimated the crowd to be several times larger. After misleading the Armenian public for six years with thousands of lies, Pashinyan continued his deceptive practices by claiming without any evidence that the protesters are Kremlin’s agents who were paid money to participate in these protests. Government leaders ridiculed not only Srpazan, but also the Armenian Church, an institution that has shepherded the nation ever since 301 AD, particularly during the absence of an Armenian state.

    To the disappointment of Prime Minister’s diminishing number of supporters, as his rating has gone down from 80% six years ago to 8% now, Srpazan held a second rally in the Republic Square with tens of thousands of followers in attendance. Despite the brutal actions of Pashinyan’s police which viciously attacked the peaceful protesters, the movement grew stronger rather than fizzling out. During the past week, Srpazan held separate meetings with groups of lawyers, doctors, retired military officers, artists, and dozens of opposition leaders.

    Srpazan proved the falsehood of Pashinyan followers’ repeated mantra that no one else can replace the Prime Minister. Srpazan succeeded for the first time to unite the various opposition groups under his leadership. Large segments of the public, livid at Pashinyan’s defeatist concessions to Azerbaijan, responded enthusiastically to Srpazan’s peaceful, but urgent message for change.

    Finally, Srpazan’s long-awaited big rally took place on May 26 during which several important announcements were made. The crowd was told that Srpazan would temporarily replace Pashinyan after which a coalition government will be formed, followed by parliamentary elections which will choose a new Prime Minister. Even though the Constitution requires that the Prime Minister be exclusively a citizen of Armenia for the preceding four years, Srpazan’s followers believe that his dual citizenship of Armenia and Canada would not prevent him from temporarily acting as Prime Minister. Srpazan made the commitment that he will be guided exclusively by legal requirements. Ironically, Pashinyan’s regime, which has violated just about every existing law, is demanding that the protesters comply with the laws of the country.

    During the May 26 rally, Srpazan also announced that after consulting with other high-ranking clergymen and Catholicos Karekin II, it was decided that he will freeze his 30-year-long spiritual service in order not to combine political activities with his religious position.

    Srpazan is attempting to topple Pashinyan the same way the latter toppled Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. Pashinyan and his followers violated dozens of laws to come to power, blocking the streets, the Parliament building, the courthouse, and smashing the locked doors of the Armenian radio station. However, Pashinyan thinks that he is the only one who can get away with breaking the law. Amazingly, he even boastfully proclaimed: “is there a judge in Armenia who cannot do what the Prime Minister says?” If anyone else does what he did, his barbaric police are ordered, as he himself announced during the Parliamentary campaign in 2021 while holding a hammer in his hand, to smash the heads of his Armenian opponents, even though he falsely claims to be a democrat. Ironically, Pashinyan never uses such vile language against the real enemies of Armenia — Azerbaijan and Turkey — whose leaders make the most offensive comments about Armenia.

    At the end of the mass rally in the Republic Square on May 26, Srpazan marched with his followers to the Prime Minister’s mansion and demanded that he meet with him and tell him to resign. However, it turned out that Pashinyan was not at home, visiting the flooded areas of Northern Armenia.

    Srpazan then led the large crowd back to the Republic Square where the rally had started several hours earlier. He urged his followers to engage in acts of civil disobedience throughout the country to pressure Pashinyan to resign.

    This is Armenia’s last chance to save the country from Pashinyan, a defeated and incompetent leader, who is willing to follow Aliyev’s and Azerbaijan’s orders, and make illegal and endless one-sided concessions, until the total loss of Armenia, after the loss of Artsakh!

  • Trusting the Greeks

    Trusting the Greeks

    In reality, the problem that lies at the root of the Cyprus problem and needs to be solved is the problem of ‘trust’.

    The number of Turkish Cypriots who sincerely trust the Greek Cypriots and Greeks is almost negligible.

    The roots of this mistrust go back to the early 20th century, but if we leave the past in the past and return to the present, we see that nothing has changed since then.

    As you know, the Greek Cypriots prevent all kinds of initiatives that will mention the name of the TRNC, that will bring the TRNC to the top and that will give the Turkish Cypriots a breath of fresh air. This includes touristic visits, economic and scientific activities.

    The Greek Cypriots are doing their best to isolate from the world the state that the Turkish Cypriots, who were subjected to a genocide between 1955 and 1974, similar to the genocide in Gaza today, managed to establish – as a result of their liberation in 1974 with the help and support of the motherland Turkey -.

    The Greeks, who have been terminating the negotiations that have been going on since 1968 to establish a so-called common state with the Turkish Cypriots, each time with a megalomaniacal attitude and with lame excuses, overturning the table and leaving, today, as if they were not the ones who left the negotiation table, they are trying to get the Turkish Cypriots to sit at the table, they are travelling from door to door and trying every way to put pressure on Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots.

    Recently, they did everything in their power to prevent our President Ersin Tatar from travelling to Australia and meeting with Australian local administrators and government members.

    They tried to do so, but this time they were not successful and for the first time a TRNC President was welcomed, hosted and visited Australia as ‘President’, even if not officially.

    The Greek Cypriots, who prevented the Turkish Cypriots from participating in international sports competitions, prevented the Turkish Cypriots from connecting to the world with direct flights, prevented the Turkish Cypriots from becoming an ‘observer’ member of the Organisation of Turkic States established by states of Turkish descent, and plotted all kinds of intrigues to prevent the Turkish Cypriots from establishing academic, commercial, industrial, social and cultural ties with the states of the world, have run out of credit, and it has become impossible for them to expect love and respect from the Turkish Cypriots.

    Although the UN representatives meet with the anti-TRNC people in the TRNC and present them as the general opinion of the Turkish Cypriots, the vast majority of the Turkish Cypriots do not want to establish a common state with the Greek Cypriots, who have been carrying out armed, economic and political attacks to destroy them for the last century, and where they will be relegated to minority status like the Maronites, Armenians and Latins after a while.

    The inhumane practices of the Atlantic Alliance, which isolates them from the world and does not recognise laws and rules, has been a great lesson to the Turkish Cypriots about who they can trust. 

    The Atlantic Alliance, which has been providing financial and arms support to the terrorist formation operating under the names of PKK, YPG and similar names in the territory of North East Syria for years, is now trying to give legal status to their existence by supporting them to hold local elections illegally, but unfortunately, it has not imposed any sanctions to be taken seriously on the rulers of the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’, Greek Cypriots and Greece, who declared the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ by overthrowing the internationally recognised ‘Republic of Cyprus’ by staging a coup d’état in Cyprus on 15 July 1974 and declared the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ and announced the annexation of the island of Cyprus to Greece the next day. (Turkey, which saved the Turkish Cypriots from genocide and extinction, was subjected to an ‘arms and financial embargo’ immediately after the 1974 Peace Operation). In the United Nations Organisation, of which they are the protector and founder, they took the decision dated 18 November 1983 and numbered 541, which is a disgrace to humanity, isolating the Turkish Cypriots from the world.

    Now, while they are trying to illegally create a terrorist state in North East Syria, which will be completely under their control, I leave it to you to interpret the aim of bringing together two communities that have fought each other and whose anger has not subsided on the island where the world’s longest-lasting conflict is taking place, and giving the administration to the Greeks. Here, there is a 41-year-old state with all its institutions – not counting the Federated State – and there is an attempt to have terrorists establish a state there!

    What kind of global justice is this? Who, why and how should we trust?

    Prof. Dr. (Civil Engineer), Assoc. Prof. Dr. (UA. Relations) Ata ATUN

    Member of the Advisory Board of the TRNC President

    TRNC Republican Assembly 1st Term Deputy

  • Next Step is the Planned Intervention

    Next Step is the Planned Intervention

    Maria Angela Holguin, the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General, has concluded her sixth week of investigations into the existence of a negotiating basis for a solution to the Cyprus problem.

    After weeks of negotiations and attempts, Holguin realised that there was no common ground and informed her big brother, Colin Stewart, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), in detail.

    The instruction sent to her was as follows; ‘continue to deceive, pretend to continue the negotiations in the triangle of Ankara-Athens and Nicosia, but your main task should be to establish contact with Civil Society Organisations, especially in the North Cyprus, and to identify the Civil Society Organisations that are pro-Atlantic Alliance and want Federation’.

    The goal of the Atlantic Alliance is clear. 

    Of the 3 states existing on the island of Cyprus, the TRNC, the Greek Cypriot Administration of Cyprus and the Akrotiri State, to eliminate the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is separatist according to them, to remove the Turkish Armed Forces from the island and to intimidate the Turkish Cypriots who believe in the TRNC.

    Second step;

    To completely remove Turkey’s hand from the island of Cyprus, to destroy Turkey’s Exclusive Economic Zone rights in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean and to confine Turkey within its own territorial waters by putting the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean completely under the control of the Atlantic Alliance.

    The actual intervention to bring the island of Cyprus completely under the control and sovereignty of the Atlantic Alliance will begin in mid-2025, in line with the report given by Maria Holquin, with the games and manipulations to be played on the TRNC people and economy.

    The first target will be to make the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, who, according to them, is ‘intransigent’ and stands in the way of the Atlantic Alliance’s goals and creates obstacles, ‘lose the TRNC Presidential elections to be held in October 2025 and get the candidate of their choice to be elected’.

    Maria Angela Holguin, the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General, has identified non-governmental organisations, politicians, opinion leaders, media organisations, media members, columnists, newspapers, social media activists and influential people who are sympathetic to the Atlantic Alliance and who are in favour of the establishment of a Federation-type so-called ‘Joint Government’ in Cyprus, which will consist of Greeks and Turks. (Which she preferred these people and organisations during her visits to talk).

    As of the moment, a work programme is being prepared to discredit TRNC President Ersin Tatar and his supporters, politicians, non-governmental organisations, media organisations, media members, columnists, newspapers, social media activists and the people who can be influential, and to mobilise the pro-Atlantic Alliance group.        

    Firstly, an action plan and budget will be determined.

    The action plan will include the identification of a ‘new vision’ that will have an impact on the Turkish Cypriot people and how the pro-Atlantic Alliance group will be mobilised.

    The second and most important step will be the action plan.

    In this plan; The establishment of a political party or various non-governmental organisations supporting the wishes and visions of the Atlantic Alliance will take place and to promote the visions of Atlantic Alliance and to convince the majority of the Turkish Cypriot people with fancy and enticing promises through organisation of rallies, existing newspapers, television organisations, social media activities.

    The last step would be:

    To convince the majority of the Turkish Cypriots that the President Tatar’s idea of an ‘equal, sovereign, internationally recognised two-state solution’, which he has been advocating since the day he was elected, is not correct and on the contrary the Federation-type so-called ‘Joint Government’ consisting of Greeks and Turks in Cyprus is the best solution… 

    The village where the barns are visible does not need a guide.

    Prof. Dr. (Civil Engineer), Assoc. Prof. Dr. (Int Rel.) Ata ATUN

    Member of the Advisory Board of the TRNC President

    TRNC Republican Assembly 1st Term Deputy

  • Donations Tilt Vatican In Favor of Azerbaijan

    Donations Tilt Vatican In Favor of Azerbaijan

    In a lengthy article published in the Irpmedia.irpi.eu in Italian on March 27, 2024, titled, “How Vatican helped legitimize the Aliyev autocracy in Azerbaijan,” Simone Zoppellaro exposes Vatican’s pro-Azerbaijan tilt due to financial donations, despite Armenia being a Christian nation, while Azerbaijan is Islamic.

    On Feb. 22, 2020, the autocratic leader of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, the country’s Vice President, paid a state visit to the Vatican. They were received officially by Pope Francis, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. Mrs. Aliyeva was at the Vatican to receive the highest honor awarded to a lay person by the Holy See: “The Grand Cross.” The award is proposed by the Diocesan Bishops “as a sign of appreciation and gratitude for services to the Church or to society reserved for Heads of State, ministers, ambassadors, and royalty.” However, the driving force behind Vatican’s interest in Azerbaijan is the financial support provided by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

    Ironically, despite Azerbaijan’s intolerance of minorities, dissidents and other religions, the Holy See expressed its appreciation to “Azerbaijan’s openness and peaceful attitude towards different faiths.”

    Fearing the loss of Azerbaijan’s donations, the Vatican has been reluctant to allow any criticism of Baku, particularly by its own clergy. “Father Georges-Henri Russyen was expelled from the Pontifical Oriental Institute because he was critical of those who did not want to use the formula ‘Armenian genocide.’”

    Given the expectations of benefiting from Azerbaijan’s “Caviar Diplomacy,” the Vatican has not been willing to say anything more substantial than emphasizing “the importance of intercultural and inter-religious dialog in favor of peaceful coexistence among different religious and ethnic groups,” meaning Armenians and Azeris. The Pope prayed for the inhabitants of Karabakh, hoping “that the talks between the parties, with the support of the international community, will foster a lasting agreement that will end the humanitarian crisis,” Even during the 2020 War, “the Church was unable of going beyond generic appeals for moderation ‘to all the parties involved and to the international community’ to ‘lay down their weapons.’”

    On October 24, 2023, Prime Minister Nikol Pahinyan received from the Apostolic Nuncio José Avelino Bettencourt the same award given three years earlier to Aliyeva, Azerbaijan’s Vice President. However, there was a major difference. While Aliyeva received her award directly from the Pope, Pashinyan was honored by an Apostolic Nuncio. There were also other differences which “helped consolidate the power of the Aliyev family, despite human rights violations in Artsakh.”

    “Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, honorary president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture and chairman of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, is the highest Vatican official who has made the most efforts to open a dialog with Azerbaijan.” He was awarded the Order of Friendship in 2013 by the Azerbaijani authorities — a high honor offered for a “special contribution to the development of friendly, economic and cultural relations between Azerbaijan and a foreign state.”

    Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti is considered “the protagonist of the privileged channel” established between the Vatican and Baku. “Highly educated and polyglot, ambitious and lover of power, Cardinal Gugerotti has known the Aliyev family since 2002, when Pres. Heydar Aliyev, in power since 1969, was still alive.”

    “In the early 2000s, Gugerotti met with the Azerbaijani authorities as Nuncio for the Southern Caucasus, a position he assumed in 2001. Before then this nunciature for the Holy See included only Georgia and Armenia. Those were the years in which Russia guaranteed a ceasefire in the region, after Armenia had defeated Azerbaijan in the first conflict. The ethnic hatred that is still fuel for the conflict was beginning to settle, but Nuncio Gugerotti called Azerbaijan a ‘country [that] is a symbol of peaceful coexistence between people of different religions.’”

    “Ten years after he began his mission as Apostolic Nuncio in 2011, Gugerotti signed the historic agreement which, for the first time, regulated relations between Baku and the Catholic Church. At the time of ratification, recalls a 2019 book produced by the Foundation for the Promotion of Moral Values from Baku entitled ‘Christianity in Azerbaijan,’ Gugerotti expressed gratitude to the (Azeri) government for creating the conditions that made possible [the agreement], emphasizing that our country always remained committed to the principles of tolerance, and noting that the agreement was the first document of its kind, because the Vatican had never signed such an agreement with any state before.”

    According to Gugerotti, “Azerbaijan has once again demonstrated its tolerance. Now the whole world is witnessing it. I am sure that this document will receive a positive response in the international world and will be remembered as a great historical event. The reaction of the press from day one proves us right. On behalf of the Holy Throne and the Crown, I extend my deep thanks for all this to President Ilham Aliyev and the Government of Azerbaijan.”

    Since 2009, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, headed by Mehriban Aliyeva, has funded various activities in the Vatican: restoration projects, exhibitions and concerts. Other projects funded by Azerbaijan included: the Roman catacombs, the Vatican Museums, the Vatican Apostolic Library, and Catholic churches in France and Azerbaijan. These donations amount to one million euros.

    In 2013, Gugerotti received the Movses Khorenatsi Medal — the highest Armenian honor — from the then president Serzh Sargsyan for his important contribution to Armenian studies, but also the effort aimed at strengthening relations between Yerevan and the Holy See.

    The author of the article concluded that the close relationship between the Vatican and Azerbaijan has had the effect, perhaps unintended, of strengthening the hegemonic role of the Azeri autocracy… which may contribute to a diplomatic normalization that would put in the background, or erase, crimes and aggressions committed by the Azeri autocracy.

  • Archbishop Bagrat is Leading the Effort To Oust Pashinyan and Save Armenia

    Archbishop Bagrat is Leading the Effort To Oust Pashinyan and Save Armenia

    A lot has happened in Armenia this past week that has shaken to the core the incompetent, inexperienced, defeatist and deceptive Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who should have resigned on Nov. 10, 2020, the day he signed the capitulation agreement with Azerbaijan.

    Pashinyan came to power by exploiting the people’s gullibility and their resentment of the former leaders. He claimed that he will bring peace to Armenia, their sons will no longer die in wars, they will live in prosperity with high-paying jobs, there will be no corruption, and a million other falsehoods with which he misled the public.

    Drunk with his newly-found power, Pashinyan became completely unhinged. He arrogantly announced, while he and his mob of followers surrounded the Parliament building in 2018, that either he will become the Prime Minister or Armenia will not have a Prime Minister! This is the pronouncement of a self-declared democratic leader who became a dictator.

    During the campaign for the parliamentary elections in 2021, Pashinyan stood on a stage holding a hammer and promising to crush the heads of his political opponents. He also pledged to slam his Armenian rivals to the wall and flatten them on the asphalt. This is his crude understanding of democracy.

    Pashinyan told his crowd of followers in 2018 that he will leave his office when the people demand his resignation. Since then, he has ignored all demands for his resignation clinging to his seat of power. During one of the many demonstrations calling for his resignation, when a journalist asked him if he will keep his word and resign, he pompously replied, “they aren’t people,” implying that he considers only those who support him as “people.”

    Even though Pashinyan’s supporters falsely claim that he was elected Prime Minister, the fact is that he was not, since the Prime Minister’s post is not an elective position. He was chosen by his parliamentary majority which is composed of equally incompetent and inexperienced young men and women.

    Pashinyan has no tolerance for dissent. If anyone living in Armenia dares to criticize him, the Prime Minister orders his well-fed police squad to lay the critic on the ground, beat him up and arrest him. His top ally, Alen Simonyan, the Chairman of the Parliament, spit on the face of an Armenian in the street, just because he criticized him. And if a Diaspora Armenian disagrees with Pashinyan, he will not be allowed to enter Armenia after he arrives at the Yerevan Airport. Under Pashinyan, Armenia has become a dictatorship, ruled by the whims of one man.

    Now comes Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the Primate of the Diocese of Tavoush, who opposes Pashinyan’s arbitrary decision to turn over to Azerbaijan four Armenian border villages without a referendum and parliamentary approval.

    The Archbishop has come immediately under vicious attacks by Pashinyan himself and his cronies, including the thousands of fake Facebook followers who are paid to defame anyone who dares to criticize the Prime Minister.

    Pashinyan called the Archbishop and his supporters “Drug Lords” and “Foreign Agents sent from overseas” without a shred of evidence. It is very ugly when the head of a government uses street language to denigrate his political opponents. Anyone who dares to criticize Pashinyan is immediately labeled “a Kremlin agent” who is paid thousands of dollars to “undermine the country.” Why should anyone get paid to undermine Armenia when Pashinyan is already undermining the country all by himself?

    In a strange turn of events, the Archbishop has copied the same tactic Pashinyan used to come to power by marching from Gyumri to Yerevan in 2018. Thus Srpazan is giving Pashinyan a dose of his own medicine. The only difference is that Pashinyan violated many laws to come to power by smashing the doors of the Armenian Radio Station’s headquarters, surrounding a Court House with his followers to prevent the judges from entering the building, and blocking the entrances to the Parliament.

    The Archbishop has advantages and disadvantages. Srpazan is a clergyman whose weapon is truth and morality. He preaches peace, love and non-violence. All attempts by various opposition groups to topple Pashinyan by street protests in the past six years have failed. The Archbishop is the only person who has gained the trust of a large number of Armenians who eagerly joined his march from Tavoush to Yerevan. Over 100,000 Armenians flooded the city’s main square to listen to his message.

    When Srpazan arrived in Yerevan on May 9, he announced that he was giving Pashinyan one hour to resign. When the hour passed and there was no resignation, the Archbishop did not want to go to the next step of urging his 100,000 followers to storm the building and oust the Prime Minister. Instead, Srpazan announced a series of civil disobedience acts throughout the country.

    Srpazan is now consulting with various opposition leaders to discuss the next steps. If and when Pashinyan resigns or is impeached, both unlikely scenarios, the Archbishop said that a transition government will be formed which will later hold elections for Parliament to choose a new Prime Minister. It remains to be seen if Srpazan’s peaceful plans will succeed to oust Pashinyan.

    The best reason for getting rid of Pashinyan is that the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey have eagerly praised Pashinyan for his repeated and endless concessions. Prominent Azeri analyst Ali Hajizade even suggested the possibility of sending Azeri and Turkish troops to Yerevan to support Pashinyan’s government!

    All patriotic Armenians, putting aside their internal differences, should form a coalition to establish a transitional government that will hold the next elections. Public pressure must be exerted on Pashinyan to resign as soon as possible before the country ceases to exist due to attacks by internal and external enemies. This may be the last chance to save Armenia.