Pashinyan again did not specify Artsakh’s future status acceptable to Yerevan. He reiterated instead that the people of Artsakh must be able to continue to live in the disputed territory and “consider themselves Armenians.”
Azatutyun.am – “I want to say that the agenda of peace is not an agenda of defeat,” he told Arayik Harutiunian, the Artsakh Republic’s president, and other senior Artsakh officials. “The agenda of peace is an agenda of overcoming the horrors of war and the difficulties that followed the war and guaranteeing the security, rights and future of the people.”
It was Pashinyan’s first face-to-face meeting with the Artsakh leaders since his April 13 speech in the Armenian parliament which caused an outcry in Armenia and Artsakh.
Addressing the parliament, Pashinyan said that the international community is pressing Armenia to “lower a bit the bar on the question of Artsakh’s status” and recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevan’s intention to make such concessions to Baku.
Armenian opposition leaders portrayed the speech as further proof that Pashinyan has agreed to Azerbaijani control over Artsakh.
The authorities in Stepanakert also deplored it. In a resolution, the Artsakh parliament demanded that the Armenian authorities “abandon their current disastrous position.”
Earlier this week, Harutiunian claimed to have received assurances from Pashinyan that Yerevan will not back any agreements on the territory’s status unacceptable to the Artsakh Armenians.
Pashinyan said in this regard on Thursday that he will not cut any peace deals with Azerbaijan without consulting with the Artsakh leadership.
Harutiunian confirmed his support for the “agenda of peace.” But he also stressed: “On the other hand, I want to make clear that we see no way of deviating from our right to self-determination.”
Pashinyan made no mention of that right in his opening remarks publicized by his press office. He again did not specify Artsakh’s future status acceptable to Yerevan. He reiterated instead that the people of Artsakh must be able to continue to live in the disputed territory and “consider themselves Armenians.”
“This is the agenda which we must jointly advance. I am convinced that we are moving in the right direction, and I am happy when the Artsakh authorities share that conviction,” added the Armenian premier.
The meeting with Harutiunian and other Artsakh officials came amid intensifying opposition demonstrations in Yerevan sparked by Pashinyan’s Artsakh discourse. Armenia’s leading opposition groups are trying to force Pashinyan to resign.
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