VIDEO: Brother, why did you create obstacles? You’ve been in power since 1998, says Pashinyan

In a speech at the National Assembly, MP Arthur Khachatryan from the "Armenia" faction addressed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, saying, "Peace is as far away today as it was this time last year, the Turks are in our territories, and you are discussing ceding lands without presenting mirror demands. Has your government’s policy yielded any positive results for our state in the past year or not?"

He also reminded that the Kazan document on resolving the Artsakh issue included a provision for a referendum in Artsakh, which would also involve 25% of local Azerbaijanis, and that no restrictions were placed on what issues could be raised in the referendum, meaning that there is no claim for autonomy or being within Azerbaijan.

In response, Nikol Pashinyan stated that for years the people were told that the document on the table implied that Artsakh should not be part of Azerbaijan, while the reality is exactly the opposite: "It is written there that Artsakh must be part of Azerbaijan. What you cited is a wonderful thing. You say 25% of Azerbaijanis should come, but who said it should be 25%? I have addressed this topic here. They say, for instance, if a woman has been pregnant and leaves Artsakh, giving birth a week after leaving, is that child a resident of Artsakh or not? And is the child born from such a scenario a resident or not? Who knows the answer to this question? If you initially accepted that there has been an Armenian woman and an Azerbaijani woman in Artsakh, why is your assumption that the child of the Armenian woman from Artsakh should participate in that process, while the child of the Azerbaijani woman should not? Both were pregnant on the same day, and then these events occurred. It is said that the referendum should happen within the agreed timelines between the parties. Azerbaijan says, sure, friends, you must agree with me; very well, that referendum will not happen in the next 100 years. Let them come back and live together; we will see if there is a need for that referendum or not,” said Pashinyan.

In response to the Prime Minister, Arthur Khachatryan stated, "You ask, where is it written? The Kazan document states that by ‘the population of Artsakh’ refers to all nationalities living in Artsakh based on the ethnic proportions of 1988, at the beginning of the conflict. This implies a unified referendum, rather than what happened in Cyprus, and the right to self-determination has led to the creation of the latest state on the planet."

"The Kazan document had that written; the irony is that during the Kazan document you were in power and also in opposition, so resolve it. Resolve it, brother, who was stopping you? If I was in jail or just released from jail, who was stopping you? Resolve it in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 so that war wouldn’t occur; you were those who avoided war. In 2018, you didn’t come from this podium to say the negotiation process is stalled. You couldn't in 2011; you couldn’t resolve it in 2010, in 2009, in 2008, in 2007, in 2006, in 2005, in 1999. You were in power since 1998; resolve it. Now, when you come here with shiny rhetoric saying ‘this will be so’ or ‘that will be so’, let it be. You’re now quoting from documents that have been rejected and not accepted; I am quoting from the documents of the 1996 OSCE Summit that were accepted, I am quoting from the four resolutions of the UN Security Council. I am quoting from your own praised principles,” responded Pashinyan.

For more details, watch the video.