Another Attempt by Pashinyan to Tarnish and Discredit the ARF

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF) central committees for the northern and southern regions of Iran have issued a joint statement in response to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's remarks regarding the ARF structures in Iran during a meeting with the Armenian diaspora in Vilnius, Lithuania.

“Recently, Nikol Pashinyan made another attempt to tarnish and discredit the Armenian Revolutionary Federation during a meeting with a very small number of representatives of the Armenian community in Lithuania. This time, the targets were the structures of the ARF in Iran. In his speech, Pashinyan stated that the structures of the Federation in Iran are trying to create a negative image of the current Armenian authorities in front of the Iranian government, thereby undermining the interests of Armenia's security and statehood.

In this regard, we find it necessary to emphasize the following: for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Armenian statehood has been, is, and will remain an absolute value to which all efforts of the party's structures are directed towards strengthening and ensuring security.

In this case, it is somewhat necessary to stress that since Armenia's independence, the efforts of the ARF's structures in Iran have been directed exclusively at strengthening, promoting, and developing Armenian-Iranian relations.

The broader family of the Federation, and the ARF's structures in Iran specifically, are well aware of the crucial strategic importance of Armenian-Iranian relations for ensuring the security of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, opposing the expansionist aspirations of the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem, maintaining stability and security in the region, as well as ensuring the balance of power.

As a reminder, on the contrary, over the past three years, the ambiguous and failed foreign policy pursued by the current Armenian authorities, the unconsidered statements made by representatives of various ranks and significance, and specifically, the unthoughtful attempt to sharply elevate diplomatic relations with Israel, the main regional adversary of Iran, just prior to the 44-day war, have unequivocally harmed Armenian-Iranian relations, putting into question what has been formed over the past 30 years.

Thus, Nikol Pashinyan's statement is nothing more than an unsuccessful and morally indefensible attempt to shift his own failures in the field of foreign policy onto others, in this case, onto the ARF.

We assure you that, as in the past, the efforts of the ARF's structures in Iran will be directed exclusively towards strengthening the Armenian statehood and ensuring the interests and security of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh.”