Countries Supplying Weapons to Azerbaijan Must Clearly Understand That the Use of Such Weapons Against Civilians is a Crime, Prime Minister

During today’s government meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that following the victorious events of July, our position has been strengthened, expressed in several key points:

“First, the security system of Armenia and Artsakh must be reinforced. In this regard, I highly value our close cooperation with Artsakh and the need to provide new content to that cooperation in response to existing threats.

Second, Artsakh must become a full-fledged party to the negotiations.

Third, Azerbaijan must publicly renounce the use of force and make credible steps to stop its anti-Armenian rhetoric.

Fourth, the negotiations must be meaningful. Azerbaijan’s approach, which views negotiations as a continuation of war and aims to resolve military issues at the negotiating table, undermines the entire negotiation process.

Negotiations are meaningful only if Azerbaijan is willing to abandon its maximalist stance and is ready for compromise. The recognition of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination, as well as the security of the populations of Armenia and Artsakh, cannot be compromised under any circumstances.

Fifth, in recent days, Azerbaijan has targeted the civilian population and infrastructure of the border areas of the Tavush region. Countries supplying weapons to Azerbaijan must clearly understand that the use of those weapons against civilians is a crime, as an impression is being created that it is not Azerbaijan, but foreign, highly accurate, lethal weapon-producing multinational corporations, along with their specialists, fighting against the armed forces and civilian population of Armenia.

The conflict that has persisted for the third decade has seriously damaged the border areas of Armenia and the people living in Artsakh, violating their economic, political, environmental, mobility, and other rights. The approach that these rights can only be realized after the conflict's resolution is unacceptable. The issues of people living in the conflict zone must become a primary part of the negotiation agenda.

Sixth, the monitoring of the ceasefire, which existed before the pandemic, is currently extremely limited. There should be new international monitoring that is permanent and has verification mechanisms to record when and which side has violated the ceasefire. Such monitoring activities can be carried out by the personal office of the OSCE chairperson, which has years of experience in the region and can ensure the permanent presence of OSCE observers in the region, both at the state border and along the contact line.

Establishing direct communication on the ground among military personnel is an effective tool for preventing and clarifying incidents.

Seventh, in pursuit of peaceful resolution of the conflict, Armenia will continue to work with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. We decisively reject and will reject Turkey's attempts to destabilize the region through the exploitation of the conflict,” the Prime Minister stated.

He emphasized that the July battles demonstrated that the peaceful, velvet revolution of 2018, followed by the fight against corruption, reforms, and the development of a new military doctrine, have brought our country and society to a new level of resilience and unity.

“We can be inspired by this fact, but that enthusiasm must be transformed into daily constructive work,” Pashinyan concluded.