The people of Karabakh will gain nothing from returning to Karabakh: Nikol Pashinyan

“We can say that we are taking on the agenda of returning the people of Karabakh, but who will benefit from it? Will the people of Karabakh benefit from it?” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this in a conversation with journalists on December 18.

He pointed to the need to learn from mistakes and draw conclusions. “That would mean condemning them to the status of an eternal exile, so they would not know where they will live, whether there is an address or not. I say: there is. That address is Armenia, within its internationally recognized sovereign territory,” he noted.

Pashinyan raised a rhetorical question about what the International Court’s decision (obliging Azerbaijan to ensure the safe return of Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh (ed.)) for which we were rejoicing as a nation, actually led to. The Prime Minister also noted that once again lessons are not being learned, and that there have been various agreements, including the San Stefano conference, the Berlin conference, the Treaty of Sèvres, decisions of different courts, and so on. However, we have refused that path because it would condemn the people of Karabakh to the status of eternal exile, the head of government added.

Pashinyan called on Karabakh Armenians to accept Armenian citizenship. “We are not going to put the fate of an entire people and state under doubt for the sake of a few specialists having jobs. We have refused that path. As a result, we have transformed from a state with disabilities into a full-fledged state,” Nikol Pashinyan concluded.