After their kin in the secessionist Nagorno-Karabakh area surrendered to Azerbaijan this week, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan urged his compatriots on Thursday that Armenia needed to be “free of conflict” to maintain its independence.
Calls for Pashinyan’s resignation have increased in Armenia due to the collapse of Karabakh, an area that ethnic Armenian separatists had ruled for 30 years with Yerevan’s assistance.
In a televised speech commemorating Armenia’s national independence day, Pashinyan said: “Today we are living in difficult times, suffering untold physical and psychological suffering.” He did not specifically mention Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia has profited from democracy, the rule of law, and an anti-corruption strategy with principles, but Pashinyan said peace is also necessary.
“Peace is a factor that ensures and guarantees security as well as independence and sovereignty,” he claimed.
For the sake of its future, statehood, and independence, he said, “Armenia must follow this path.”
Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, said on Wednesday that he appreciated Armenia’s decision to refrain from interfering with Baku’s lightning offensive given its limited alternatives. According to Aliyev, this will remove a barrier to more extensive peace talks between the two neighbors in the Caucasus.
The basis for this week’s seizure of the entire province was laid by a conflict Pashinyan oversaw in 2020 in which a suddenly self-assured and better-armed Azerbaijan seized control of large territory previously held by the separatists.
Nevertheless, a few months later, Pashinyan was elected again in Armenia.
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