Arzvik Minasyan: 'Nikol Pashinyan Once Again Showed He Absolutely Lacks Diplomatic Nuances'

During a briefing at the National Assembly, Arzvik Minasyan, a member of the 'Armenia' parliamentary faction, addressed Nikol Pashinyan’s statement expressing hope that statements from Baku are not intended to deliberately obstruct the peace process.

'Yesterday, Nikol Pashinyan in his Q&A session once again demonstrated that he absolutely lacks not only diplomatic nuances but even the basic rules of negotiations. He does not even understand that there is international law and regulations regarding such issues. Yesterday, Nikol Pashinyan did not speak about any of the negotiation principles. He discusses technical questions that Aliyev easily undermines and counters. Meanwhile, from the Armenian side, there’s no clear approach on fundamental issues,' said Minasyan.

According to him, one of the critical principles from the perspective of international law is the approach with which one enters negotiations. Aliyev declares, 'What is under my control is mine,' justifying why he does not want to withdraw troops from the occupied territories.

'What is Nikol Pashinyan’s or the Armenian side’s response to this? Zero. Nothing. Whereas, from the standpoint of international law, if you adopt this approach, first, you should not even talk about any enclave. Secondly, even if this is being accepted, and if by Pashinyan’s light touch the famous Alma-Ata declaration and memorandum have entered the negotiation package, Azerbaijan officially joined, and that norm came into effect on September 24, 1993. This means that if you talk about the territory under control and delimitation, at that point, you have to speak. And at that point, the border was the line of contact, where the territories under the Armenian authorities are under Armenia's jurisdiction,' he added.

Minasyan stated that according to the same international law principles regarding the unblocking of transport infrastructures, it is optimal to open communications and form units that do not allow either side in the future to make decisions that would yield unilateral benefits. 'The shortest example is the following: not the idea of discussing the Meghri railway or the so-called absurd crossroads, but if you are looking at road infrastructures, the best solution is the Baku-Kazakh-Ijevan-Dilijan-Hrazdan line, where around 320 km will be under Armenian jurisdiction and about 360 km under Azerbaijani jurisdiction. In that case, tomorrow or the day after, any side cannot make any unilateral decision, meaning it won’t benefit either side, preventing unilateral actions,' he emphasized.

Minasyan said that the option currently being discussed from the Armenian side is, at best, about 45 km of road, while from the Azerbaijani side, it involves 650-700 km. 'This means at any moment, Azerbaijan can do whatever it wants. 'As a final point, for delimitation and demarcation, the minimum conditions for safety in border communities are of principled importance. Under Azerbaijan’s current occupation policies, there cannot be any agreement around delimitation because they present an immediate threat to Armenian communities. Moreover, I am not even speaking about the rights of the Armenian population of Artsakh or the issue of Artsakh. These are matters that are absolutely not raised by the group representing the government today, led by Nikol Pashinyan,' Minasyan stressed.