The proposals were based on the so-called Madrid Principles of the Karabakh conflict’s resolution first drafted by the three world powers leading the OSCE Minsk Group in 2007.
The draft framework accord envisaged that Azerbaijan would regain control over virtually all seven districts around Karabakh occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces in the early 1990s. In return, Karabakh’s predominantly Armenian population would be able to determine the disputed territory’s internationally recognized status in a future referendum.
Pashinian has repeatedly criticized the peace plan since Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. In recent remarks on the subject, he singled out new versions of the plan which the Minsk Group co-chairs put forward in 2016-2018, during the final years of Sarkisian’s presidency.
“In 2016 … Karabakh lost all theoretical and practical chances of not being part of Azerbaijan,” Pashinian claimed in December amid continuing opposition statements blaming him for the outcome of the six-week war that left at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead.
Sarkisian sought to disprove such claims in an interview broadcast online late on Monday. He insisted that updated proposals submitted to the conflicting parties by the mediators in 2016 did not cross Armenian “red lines.”
“Our red lines were Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-determination, the existence of a land border between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the international community’s recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities as legitimately elected people,” he said.
Sarkisian dismissed Pashinian’s arguments that the proposed deal set no date for the referendum of self-determination. He said that Lachin and Kelbajar, two of the seven districts around Karabakh, would remain under Armenian control until Baku agreed to the vote.
“Peacekeepers, the Armenian army and Karabakh self-determination forces would be deployed [around Karabakh] with the international community’s approval,” he went on. “In those circumstances, it would be much more painful for Azerbaijan to restart hostilities.”
Pashinian similarly stated a year ago that the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group sought a “surrender of lands” to Azerbaijan and offered the Armenian side nothing in return. The then Russian co-chair of the group, Igor Popov, bluntly denied the claim.
In televised interview aired on January 24, the prime minister also commented on the possibility of Armenian recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity through a “peace treaty” sought by Baku. He claimed in that regard that Armenia already did so when it signed and ratified in 1992 a treaty on the creation of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Armenian opposition groups condemned the remarks as further proof of Pashinian’s readiness to end Armenian control over Karabakh.
Sarkisian likewise accused Pashinian of lending credence to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s regular claims that Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 war put an end to the Karabakh conflict.
“There is an atmosphere of hopelessness [in Armenia,] and claims by both the [Armenian] authorities and Azerbaijan that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved have had some impact on people,” said the ex-president. “I want to again state that Artsakh (Karabakh) will never be part of Azerbaijan. Despite the disastrous war, there are still possibilities for [ensuring] that.”