VIDEO: Prime Minister Does Not Exclude Withdrawal of Claims from International Courts

We have stated that if the peace treaty is fully ready for signing and the government of Armenia believes it can sign it, and there is a topic for mutual withdrawal of lawsuits, then that is negotiable and could even be logical. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made this statement during a Q&A session with the government in the National Assembly, in response to a question from Lilit Galstyan, a member of the ‘Armenia’ faction, regarding the basis and content of discussions about withdrawing Armenia’s claims against Azerbaijan in international organizations, as withdrawing claims would deprive the Armenian people of tools to protect their rights. In turn, this would render the rights to the collective return of the Armenian people of Artsakh, public and private property, and spiritual and cultural protection moot.

Pashinyan emphasized that it is very important for these issues to be discussed comprehensively. “Unilateral perceptions in this matter do not allow us to observe the situation entirely. Do we have our truths? Of course, we do, but that does not mean that this is the only truth in the world. We may consider what we possess to be the only truth, but only having this is not enough, and we must base our discussions on this logic,” he noted.

In response to Galstyan’s observation that it should be understood what tool is being relinquished, given that Azerbaijan’s claims against Armenia are much weaker, and therefore this could have irreparable consequences and no one has the political and moral right to abandon these tools on behalf of the people of Artsakh, Pashinyan stated that if they see a stable and lasting peace being established and there is only one last detail left to finalize that peace, then they could proceed in that direction. “If we see that it is not working out, we will not renounce that tool.”