“Peace agenda is not an agenda of defeat” - position of Armenian authorities on status of NK
What did the authorities of Armenia and NK agree on?
A meeting of the Armenian authorities with the leadership of the unrecognized NKR was held in Yerevan. It is noteworthy that it took place amid protest movement of the Armenian opposition, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Oppositionists took to the streets after his statement about the international community expecting Armenia to “lower the bar on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh“.
According to political analysts, the opposition does not notice the change in the rhetoric of the prime minister’s latest statements, which took place after his visit to Moscow and meeting with the Russian president. Pashinyan now says that:
• the decisive vote on the settlement of the Karabakh problem belongs to NK and its people,
• no “secret” plan can be discussed at the negotiating table,
• it cannot be implemented “behind the backs” of NK residents.
What the participants of the meeting agreed on, as well as the opinion of the political scientist about what the latest statements of the Prime Minister of Armenia and the leadership of NK mean below.
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“We will not give up the right to self-determination”
According to the president of the unrecognized NKR, Arayik Harutyunyan, its residents welcome and accept the “peace agenda” promoted by the Armenian Prime Minister. According to him, “no one understands the price of peace better than the people of Artsakh”, at the same time, no one there intends to give up the right to self-determination.
The President thanked the Prime Minister of Armenia for discussing with the NK leadership all the topics and issues that are raised during the negotiations, but added that it could not be otherwise:
“In other words, it is impossible for a document to be [signed] that will be rejected by the people of Artsakh. We all understand this, we also realize that in this sense we have a long political struggle ahead of us”.
According to Arayik Harutyunyan, recently, with the mediation of Russian peacekeepers, the security situation has stabilized, which makes it possible to discuss socio-economic programs:
“If there is no one in Artsakh, then it becomes meaningless to talk about security and political struggle. Therefore, demographic, socio-economic programs are once again becoming important today”.
“Artsakh is the main beneficiary of the conflict settlement”
The Prime Minister of Armenia stressed that he is in constant, daily contact with the president of the unrecognized republic, just like before and after the 2020 war in Karabakh:
“We consider it important that the authorities of Artsakh be fully informed about our programs and plans, including the content of the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, challenges and opportunities”.
The Prime Minister stated that the main beneficiary of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is its people:
“Therefore, it is simply illogical for some kind of secret plan to be discussed [at the negotiating table] and implemented, this is simply impossible to imagine”.
Apparently, in this way Pashinyan responded to the accusations of him agreeing on the status of NK within Azerbaijan.
As for the peace agenda that he is promoting in the international arena, despite the resistance of the opposition forces in Armenia itself, the prime minister said:
“An agenda for peace is not an agenda for defeat. The peace agenda is an agenda for overcoming the horrors of war, post-war difficulties, ensuring the security of the people, their rights, and the future”.
Pashinyan added that he sees a path that can guarantee the security and rights of the people of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. He sure is moving in the right direction.
Expert commentary
According to political scientist Tigran Grigoryan, the statements of Pashinyan and Harutyunyan indicate that a certain consensus is being formed between the authorities of Armenia and NK on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh:
“Yes, everyone agrees that there should be peace. The peace agenda has a number of components – the process of unblocking communications in the region, the delimitation and demarcation of borders with Azerbaijan, and, as a result, perhaps the signing of a document. But when it comes to the status of NK, then the decisive word should be with its authorities and people”.
According to the political scientist, this is one of the results of Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Moscow:
“Russia is not interested in any cardinal changes in the issue of status, that is, in the fact that the parties come to a final settlement – in favour of one side or another”.
Tigran Grigoryan speaks about the change in emphasis and, in general, the tone of the statements of the Prime Minister of Armenia after his visit to Moscow and recalls Pashinyan’s speech at the government meeting on April 22. Then the Prime Minister said that he ruled out the possibility of signing the document “without a broad public discussion, including with all layers of Artsakh society”.
According to the political scientist, in this way Pashinyan limits the range of issues that he will have to discuss at the negotiations in the future:
“All sections of the Artsakh society will reject the status of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan. In other words, by making this statement, Pashinyan also limits the range of issues that can be included in the document, referring to the fact that the issue of status is not only in the sphere of his powers, but also the authorities of Artsakh and its society”.
According to Grigoryan, the addressee of the statements of Yerevan and Stepanakert is Azerbaijan, as well as the international community:
“One of the main messages of the Armenian side in the upcoming negotiations on the so-called peace agreement may be that Yerevan, by and large, does not have a mandate to sign any decision on the status of NK”.
Touching upon the internal political situation in Armenia and the protest movement of the parliamentary opposition, Tigran Grigoryan stated that this is not the first time when Stepanakert, with its statements, is trying to defuse the situation. Their essence is that “the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should not be used to achieve domestic political goals”.
