YEREVAN, ARMENIA – On Wednesday, Pashinyan once again confirmed that he is ready to officially recognize Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Artsakh because Armenia is supposedly facing international pressure to do so.
“Today the international community is clearly telling us that being the only country in the world that does not bilaterally recognize the territorial integrity to Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan is very dangerous for not only Artsakh but also Armenia,” Pashinyan announced in the Armenian parliament.
“Today the international community is again telling us, ‘Lower a bit your bar on the question of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status and we will ensure a great international consolidation around Armenia and Artsakh.’ Or else, says the international community, please do not pin your hopes on us. Not because we don’t want to help you but because we can’t help you,” he said in an hour-long speech.
Therefore, Pashiniyan stated that he is eager to sign an agreement with Azerbaijan “as soon as possible” and repeated that his government accepts Azerbaijan’s proposals on the agreement to be signed, including mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity. He said the final status of Artsakh, presumably under the ultimate control of Azerbaijan—which is what recognizing Azerbaijan’s current internationally accepted borders would entail—must also be on the agenda.
Once again, Pashinyan declined to state that his government supports the international recognition of Artsakh as an independent state or any plan to reunite it with Armenia. Instead, he put the emphasis on “security guarantees for the Armenians of Karabakh and their rights and freedoms.”
Chairman of the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a senior member of the main opposition Hayastan alliance, said Pashinyan openly expressed his intention to place Artsakh back under Azerbaijani control.
“This means that we would finally lose Artsakh because Artsakh will be left without Armenians if we go down that path,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “This is absolutely unacceptable to us.”
Saghatelyan reiterated that the only way to stop this scenario was to remove Pashinyan from leadership. In a statement published on the ARF’s official website, Saghatelyan drew similarities between the current situation and that of 1998, when Levon Ter-Petrosyan was forced to resign after taking a similar stance as Pashinyan’s on accepting Azerbaijan’s control over Artsakh.
“There is a simple truth – this is a national issue. No government, especially this one, has a mandate to give such solutions. The people must decide for themselves whether to agree with the proposals or not. As for the solutions, I will continue to insist that the first step is the removal of these inept authorities. A person who has been humiliated in every way should not be allowed to speak to the enemy on behalf of the country and the people at this crucial moment,” said Saghatelyan
