Politician: 'Reject Serzh' campaign led to loss of Artsakh

Opposition politician Eduard Sharmarzanov, a senior member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), argues that the 2018 “Reject Serzh” campaign was not only aimed against then President Serzh Sargsyan but also against Artsakh.

In a social media post ahead of Artsakh’s Independence Day on September 2, Sharmazanov said Armenia’s victories between 1988 and 2018 were tied to the Artsakh movement, which secured an independent Armenia and a free Artsakh. According to him, both regional and global powers were dissatisfied with this reality and sought to weaken Armenia from within by fostering anti-national forces.

The politician claimed that campaigns branding Armenia’s leadership as the “Karabakh clan” served Azerbaijan’s narrative and that Sargsyan became a target because he drew “red lines”, insisting Artsakh could never be part of Azerbaijan and its self-determination was non-negotiable.

Sharmazanov said the 2018 change of power in Armenia carried out with the help of “Trojan horses”, marked the beginning of Artsakh’s loss. He accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government of rejecting Sargsyan’s negotiation legacy, adopting reckless slogans like “Artsakh is Armenia” and ultimately recognizing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan in Prague in 2022. This, he claimed, gave Baku a “green light” to complete its military takeover in 2023.

“Within a few years, we lost Artsakh because we failed to appreciate past victories,” Sharmazanov wrote, adding that Armenia’s statehood is now under threat.