I Am the First Leader of Armenia Who Says Any Solution Must Be Acceptable to the Azerbaijani People, Says Nikol Pashinyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has introduced the idea of micro-revolutions in the negotiation process for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Prime Minister has already initiated three micro-revolutions at different times, but there has been no response from the President of Azerbaijan.

As reported by Armenpress, Pashinyan spoke about this during a discussion on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue at the Munich Security Conference, which was also attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

“My principled view is that it is impossible to resolve this long-standing conflict in one or two steps. I believe we need to have micro-revolutions that can transform into mini-revolutions, after which we will indeed have a breakthrough in the negotiation process. What was that micro-revolution? In September 2018, I stated that any solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be acceptable to the people of Armenia, the people of Karabakh, and the people of Azerbaijan. Why is this a micro-revolution? Because I am the first leader of Armenia to say that any solution must also be acceptable to the Azerbaijani people. I am not only the only leader of Armenia but also the only one among the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia who says that any solution must be acceptable to all parties involved. And now, more than a year has passed since that revolution. It is a very important micro-revolution,” said Pashinyan.

He pointed out that the next revolution was when he called during one of the press conferences for social media users in Armenia and Azerbaijan to refrain from insulting and threatening each other online. “I urged the use of social media and new technologies to try to understand each other better. That is also an approach. And I have attempted to directly address the Azerbaijani people, and I would not be against if President Aliyev spoke to the Armenian people,” Pashinyan stated, noting that there is a strange fact: Aliyev refuses to talk to representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Prime Minister emphasized that it is impossible to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict without speaking to its representatives. He stressed that Nagorno-Karabakh has been recognized as a party to the conflict and negotiation by the OSCE twice: on March 24, 1992, and at the OSCE summit in Budapest in 1994. Pashinyan underlined that the Armenian side is committed to the negotiation process and the peace process. “And I believe the negotiations should take place within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship format. We are working very intensively and are ready to make real efforts to reach a resolution of the conflict,” he noted.

Aliyev, addressing Pashinyan's suggestion that the solution must be acceptable to all parties, continued to emphasize that it is acceptable for the Azerbaijani people to live in Karabakh, supposedly ‘returning’ to their homes.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, participated in a discussion regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh issue within the framework of the Munich Security Conference. The discussion was moderated by Celeste A. Wallander, President and CEO of the U.S. Russia Foundation. Pashinyan and Aliyev also had a bilateral meeting lasting nearly half an hour before the discussion.