I Have Already Decided: What Disagreements Existed Between Pashinyan and Ayvazyan

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports that Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazyan has had disagreements with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan since the beginning of his tenure on November 18. After Ayvazyan's remarks about Turkey at a press conference with Lavrov, he received a harsh warning from the prime minister, stating that he was in charge of foreign policy and that anti-Turkish statements should not be repeated.

In the days leading up to his resignation on May 27, Ayvazyan attempted to leave his position two more times, primarily due to the prime minister’s unconsidered remarks related to foreign policy, which were made without coordinating with the Foreign Ministry and the minister.

Disagreements arose when the prime minister decided to send his English tutor, Lilit Makunts, to the US ambassador. Following some incident, Nikol Pashinyan ordered the dismissal of Vahagn Melikyan, who held the position of Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry. Each time Ayvazyan submitted a resignation request, he was persuaded to withdraw it at all costs. At one point, even Tigran Avinyan visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to request and convince him that everything would be coordinated with him in the future.

Ayvazyan arrived in Yerevan from Dushanbe with the clear intention of resigning but was once again convinced that it would be a betrayal of the country's interests. The last straw was the announcement regarding the mirror withdrawal and the deployment of observers. Before that announcement, Pashinyan had informed Ayvazyan, who approached him before the Security Council meeting and urged him not to make such a statement, saying it had not been discussed through the foreign policy channels, was not advantageous for us, and that we could not raise such an agenda.

Pashinyan said, 'I have already decided.' After the Security Council meeting, the minister instructed his press secretary to publish his resignation request on Facebook, thus putting an end to his six-month suffering.