We have come to receive your mandate to replace the velvet mandate with a steel mandate and to straighten the spine of our country. Nikol Pashinyan in Abovyan

We have come to receive your mandate to replace the velvet mandate with a steel mandate and to straighten the spine of our country. This was stated today, June 5, during a meeting with residents of Abovyan by Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

He touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and the recent war, noting that the OSCE Lisbon summit took place in 1996, where a project was introduced stating that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue should be resolved within the framework of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. "Armenia uses its veto power and the document is not accepted. That project becomes a declaration of the OSCE chairman. However, Karabakh continues to participate in negotiations as an independent party. In 1997, Robert Kocharian is appointed Prime Minister of Armenia. In 1998, he becomes president and the first thing that happens is that Nagorno-Karabakh is removed from the negotiation process. This means that all the political results of the victory in the first Karabakh war are nullified. This is the greatest mine laid under the negotiation process of the Karabakh issue. The territories are still under our control, but their diplomatic and international political component has been squandered. The last tripartite meeting on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, involving Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan, took place in April 1997 in Moscow. Essentially, the co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group receives a delegation in its capital, which includes a representative from Nagorno-Karabakh. This is, in fact, the cornerstone of the possibility of international recognition for Karabakh. After Kocharian's election, there have been no such meetings," said Pashinyan.

He added that after that, in 1999, a document appeared known as the Meghri variant, which follows the logic of giving Meghri in return for Karabakh. Pashinyan stated that Robert Kocharian fulfilled all of Azerbaijan's expectations during his two years in office. "In 2007, the Madrid Principles are introduced, resulting in a document that begins as follows: 'The roadmap for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue includes the return of 7 regions to Azerbaijan and the determination of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh.' And there is a point that until the final decision, Karabakh must receive an interim status. This is the situation we inherited concerning the Karabakh issue, and that is why I said that the negotiations should start from a new point. Because the existing negotiations have reached a deadlock. We either had to agree to Azerbaijan's demands, or there would be a war," emphasized Nikol Pashinyan.