“There are no difficulties in applying to the UN Security Council” - Pashinyan
Pashinyan on problems in Armenia and NK
“Appealing to the UN Security Council is one of our possible tools,” the Prime Minister of Armenia said during a press conference, answering the question from journalists as to why the government does not apply to the UN to ensure the security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nikol Pashinyan stated that work is being carried out in this direction, and negotiations are underway both with states that are permanent members of the UN Security Council and non-permanent ones. He announced that “there is no difficulty in applying to the UN Security Council, you can apply within an hour.” The problem, according to him, is whether a decision will be made after the appeal and what it will be.
The prime minister stressed that the Security Council is a political body, and before taking such a step, it is necessary to prepare, which is what Armenia is doing.
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Expectations of the Moscow negotiations between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan
The journalists were interested in what the prime minister’s expectations are from the talks between the foreign ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan taking place in the Russian capital. He replied that his expectations are not from a separate meeting, but from the head of the Foreign Ministry and other partners involved in the process:
“I expect them to be able to agree on a few more articles of a possible peace treaty and come to some kind of decision on the unblocking of the Lachin corridor.”
According to Pashinyan, regardless of where the negotiations take place – in Moscow, Brussels or Washington – the participants in the negotiations are Armenia and Azerbaijan, the agenda of the discussions will not change.
“The absence of a peace treaty doubles the danger of war”
According to the prime minister, the absence of a peace treaty doubles the danger of war, and signing an agreement does not in itself guarantee peace։
“We are not going to sign any document that will be entitled “Peace Treaty”. We must sign such an agreement that will secure peace, or have the best possible chance of securing peace.”
He says that Armenia must do everything possible to achieve peace, so that the work done is not meaningless։
“We should concentrate more on our regional relations, international guarantees are also important for solving problems. Peace in this case is not an end, but a means to have a developed, prosperous, happy and strong state.”
Pashinyan did not answer the question of what steps Armenia would take if large-scale hostilities began in Nagorno-Karabakh. He only stressed that the message of his press conference was precisely that “military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh should not begin.”
“Armenia cannot decide the fate of the NK people”
Speaking about the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, the prime minister said that the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh should be a party to negotiations and dialogue, and Armenia is advancing this agenda. He again emphasized that the rights and security of NK Armenians should be discussed in the format of their dialogue with Baku within the framework of the international mechanism:
“Representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh – the people, the government – will have the opportunity to resolve all issues that concern them and not only generate content, but also, which is very important, bear the political responsibility associated with this content.”
Pashinyan also stated that, despite this position, official Yerevan has not yet decided whether to include the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the peace treaty with Azerbaijan or “move further and solve this problem according to a different logic.”
“Voices are also heard from NK about the need for dialogue with Baku”
Having stated this, the prime minister stressed that the majority in NK still adheres to the position according to which “discussion with Azerbaijan of the issue of their rights and security is excluded.” For him, it’s “incomprehensible.”
Pashinyan also commented on the position of the Azerbaijani side on this issue:
“I have never heard a statement at the negotiating table that Azerbaijan refuses to talk about the security and rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. On the other hand, public statements by representatives of Azerbaijan do not demonstrate such readiness.”
The reason, according to him, is that there is a “great mistrust” of Azerbaijan towards Armenia, and vice versa. He says that the Armenian side is trying to take steps to overcome this situation։
“We believe that a more or less effective dialogue can take place within the framework of the international mechanism, in the course of which there may be steps or hope for establishing confidence.”
“I have never discussed the inclusion of Artsakh in the Russian Federation”
This is how the prime minister answered the question about the possibility of such a scenario. To the question, “if the situation develops in such a way that it will be necessary to organize the evacuation of the NK Armenians,” he said:
“Armenia is not discussing the scenario of the resettlement of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia․ In Armenia, the issue of creating an opportunity for the Armenians of NK to live in their own homes, in their own country, in their homeland is being discussed.”
“I have no mandate to discuss such a matter”
To a question about the transportation of humanitarian cargo to Nagorno-Karabakh through Aghdam, that is, through the territory of Azerbaijan, Pashinyan answered:
“I have neither the mandate nor the need to discuss this issue.”
He drew a parallel with the issue of unblocking the Lachin corridor and stressed that he has a mandate to discuss this issue, since he himself signed a tripartite statement of November 9, 2020։
“At the negotiation platforms, we discuss only issues related to the illegal blocking and opening of the Lachin corridor.”
“Do we agree that Armenia should live in confrontation?”
Pashinyan did not give any assessment of the actions in support of the NK Armenians which have been taking place in Yerevan every day for more than a week. He only noted that there are signs that point to one thing — both in the previous 30 years and in the next 30 years, Armenia must live in a confrontational regime:
“Do we agree with this in terms of assessing the situation? If the Republic of Armenia formulates the principle that it wants to live in a confrontational regime in the next 15-30 years, this will cast doubt on the existence of the country, statehood, sovereignty and independence.”
“The efforts of the international community are not enough”
According to Pashinyan, the international community expresses its position and takes steps to resolve the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh. As an example, he recalled the decision of the International Court of Justice, the resolution adopted by the Council of Europe.
“Is this effort enough? No. We are mistaken if we think that the international community needs the settlement of the problem more than Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The international community cannot bear this suffering. Yes, he has a certain responsibility․ But, on the other hand, who said that the international community needs to solve problems more than Armenia.”
At the same time, this does not mean that the international community and global actors, including Russia, do not need to solve the problem that has arisen.
“Russia’s peacekeeping mission is questionable”
This was Pashinyan’s thinking in commenting on the blockade of the Lachin corridor and the humanitarian crisis that has arisen in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to him, this situation creates geopolitical and reputation problems for Moscow.
He recalled that after the 44-day war in 2020, the Russian peacekeeping contingent was stationed in NK in order to “prevent massacres” of the local Armenian population. The mission here expires in 2025 and will be automatically extended if Armenia or Azerbaijan does not object։
“If the Russian Federation decides to leave, regardless of the nuances, this will at least mean that there is no more danger of a massacre in Nagorno-Karabakh. If there is such a danger, it is difficult to imagine how such a decision can be made.
Today, when talking about the humanitarian crisis in NK, mass deaths can also occur due to food shortages, which in itself is a big problem for Russia, in terms of trust in the peacekeeping mission.”
“There is a tendency to harmonize the positions of the West and Russia”
According to Pashinyan, Russia’s negotiating activity has somewhat decreased due to the events in Ukraine, and not from lack of desire. He believes that those forces and time that under other circumstances could be invested in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are now being spent on solving their own problems։
“In recent years, among the platforms on which I negotiated, Western ones prevailed. But this is not because we wanted to push Russia out of the negotiation process. There were just other objective circumstances.”
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Pashinyan on problems in Armenia and NK
