VIDEO: “We Do Not Want to Go Down the Same Path” - Pashinyan on the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, addressed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during a ceremonial session dedicated to the day of the National Security Bodies employees. He responded to claims that the conflict should and could have been resolved differently, as reported by the government’s press service.

“Let it be resolved. But why hasn’t it? If it could and should have been resolved this way, why hasn’t it? For more than 20 years, the Republic of Armenia has been involved in this process. We have constantly heard political statements, and when we returned and gained access to the content of the negotiations, we saw that in many cases, the political statements voiced in Armenia are disconnected from the content that was formed around the negotiating table,” he said.

Pashinyan emphasized that they do not want to go down the same path, and instead, they want to discuss matters within closed consultations, public speeches, and around the negotiation table within the same framework of content. “I am not saying that closed-door and public meetings should be 100 percent identical in content. I mean the directions, because any discussion—especially those concerning security—has many layers of confidentiality. But I am saying that our policy is as follows: we do not want to say one thing inside and another outside, and then fall into traps created by the differences between the internal and external messages,” the Prime Minister stated.

Pashinyan underscored that they need the expert and professional support of the National Security Service bodies for the precise assurance of political processes. He noted that their task is to strengthen the Republic of Armenia, reinforce their statehood, sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, ensure the existence of Artsakh, fully protect the rights of the people of Artsakh, and achieve the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue with internationally recognized acceptable status for Artsakh.