'Armenia’s security guarantor led us to slaughter' — Nikol Pashinyan
Armenia row over “peace guarantor”
In the run-up to parliamentary elections in Armenia, debates between the authorities and the opposition have intensified. The most prominent topic in recent days is peace guarantees. The ruling Civil Contract party says Armenia and Azerbaijan have already established peace. Opposition figures argue that these claims amount to propaganda and say long-term peace requires “guarantors”.
“In recent days, our opposition circles have come down with ‘guarantor mania’. They previously refused to recognise that peace had been established. Now they speak about peace, but with guarantors,” Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said in parliament.
At the same time, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recalled that Armenia once had a guarantor that tried to lead the country “to the scaffold”.
“Did we have a security guarantor in 2020? We did. Who was that guarantor? The Collective Security Treaty Organization. And that organisation led us to the slaughter,” Pashinyan said.
Armenia is a member of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Yerevan has frozen its participation in the bloc for a prolonged period, although its charter does not provide for such a step. The government suspended its involvement after Azerbaijani forces entered Armenia’s sovereign territory in 2021–2022. Yerevan asked its allies for assistance but did not receive it. The CSTO said the Armenia–Azerbaijan border had not been delimited.
“To say there is no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan means there is no CSTO. The CSTO has a zone of responsibility defined by borders. If there is no border, there is no zone of responsibility. If there is no zone of responsibility, there is no organisation,” the Armenian prime minister said.
Authorities and opposition views on guaranteed peace.
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The opposition speaks of a peace guaranteed by “powerful states”
Political forces planning to take part in the parliamentary elections have actively promoted the idea of the need for “peace guarantors”.
According to Robert Kocharyan, leader of the Armenia bloc and a former president, the peace agreement initialled by Armenia and Azerbaijan “has no legal basis”.
“We spoke about guaranteed peace. This means international guarantees and guarantor states,” he said.
Kocharyan added that peace cannot depend “on the goodwill of one person” — Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
The former president argues that the authorities’ “peace propaganda” amounts to populism. He says Nikol Pashinyan rejects guarantors because otherwise peace would not be associated with his name.
The Strong Armenia party also supports the idea of a “guaranteed peace”. Its leader is Russian dollar billionaire Samvel Karapetyan. He is under house arrest on charges of calling for a seizure of power. According to his nephew, Narek Karapetyan, a member of the party’s political council, the document will have no value without one or more guarantors:
“This is the only way to establish long-term peace in Armenia.”
Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, told journalists that peace cannot be merely formal.
“What kind of peace are we talking about if Azerbaijanis have entrenched themselves and set up positions on Armenian territory? All the preconditions are there. We must reach agreements with three, four, or five powerful states. We need contacts, connections, relations so that we have a guaranteed peace — so that not even a fly can pass over our territory,” Tsarukyan said, without naming any countries.
“An Armenian citizen is their own guarantor” — Pashinyan
The prime minister responded to opposition statements from the parliament rostrum:
“Do you know who guarantees Ukraine’s security? Russia. Do you know who guarantees Cyprus’s security? Turkey. Under international documents, Turkey has played a certain role.”
Pashinyan recalled that the CSTO once acted as Armenia’s security guarantor and led the country to the slaughter in 2020:
“Now that we have stepped off the path leading to the slaughter, they tell us: ‘Where are you going? Wait a moment.’”
According to Pashinyan, when the CSTO acted as Armenia’s security guarantor, the country was in “the status of a calf”:
“A guarantor is someone who throws a rope around the calf’s neck and guarantees that it has no right even to decide when to sacrifice itself. It can sacrifice itself only for the guarantor, when they say: ‘The time has come to slaughter you.’”
The prime minister said Armenia is no longer in that position and that its citizens now serve as the guarantor of peace and security.
‘A guarantor does not act for someone else’s ‘beautiful eyes’’ — foreign minister
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stressed that in international relations, a guarantor always acts in its own interests:
“In a world of cold calculation, no one becomes a guarantor, sheds the blood of their soldiers, or spends resources for someone else’s ‘beautiful eyes’.”
Mirzoyan said history offers many examples where even guaranteed and signed agreements were violated, sometimes by the guarantors themselves.
He argued that the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan has proven viable in a tense regional environment.
“Peace can last as long as it benefits both sides,” he added.
In this context, Yerevan’s goal, the foreign minister said, is to build a system of mutually beneficial cooperation with Baku. This, in turn, would help sustain long-term peace.
Armenia row over “peace guarantor”
