VIDEO: As Serzh Sargsyan Rightly Stated, 'We Are Not Fascists' – Pashinyan Reminds of the Second and Third Presidents

During today’s government meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed the five-point proposal submitted by Azerbaijan to Armenia. He stated that Armenia responded in writing to these proposals on March 14 and appealed to the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, requesting assistance in organizing peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. On March 21, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia publicly voiced Armenia's general assessment of the proposals presented by Azerbaijan.

“That assessment is as follows: there is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals submitted by Azerbaijan on March 10; the only issue is that these proposals do not address all the issues of the Armenia-Azerbaijan comprehensive peace agenda. We have filled the agenda based on our response presented to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries, and therefore we are ready to start peace negotiations on that basis,” said the Prime Minister.

He noted that, however, Azerbaijan's political strategy tends to divert from the peace agenda. The Prime Minister stated that the radical opposition in Armenia is dissatisfied with this announcement, criticizing them for agreeing to acknowledge the principle of territorial integrity as a principle for resolving relations.

“This criticism is more than strange because Robert Kocharian, who returned to Yerevan after the OSCE Istanbul Summit on November 19, 1999, voted in favor of the Charter of European Security that defends the principle of territorial integrity. In response to a journalist's question at Yerevan's ‘Zvartnots’ airport, he declared, ‘If we are talking generally about territorial integrity, then we should not say that we are against it. We also have territory, and we consider that this territory needs to respect such a principle.’

“After him, Serzh Sargsyan also negotiated for many years regarding the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, acknowledging the principle of territorial integrity among the fundamental principles of resolution, so there is no room for any manipulation here. We believe that the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been a problem of territory and is not one now, but a problem of rights, and we will consistently defend all the rights of the Armenian population of Artsakh without disregarding the rights of other peoples, because, as Serzh Sargsyan rightly stated, ‘we are not fascists,’” announced Nikol Pashinyan.