An Armenian opposition statement on the meeting said they discussed security challenges facing Armenia and Karabakh and agreed to strive to “expand” the opposition campaign in Yerevan.
“We agreed to jointly fight for an Armenian future for Artsakh and Armenia,” Davit Galstian, who leads one of the three opposition parties represented in the Karabakh parliament, said on Tuesday.
“This was the kind of a meeting which the Armenian authorities refuse to hold,” Galstian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “That is to say that there is no cooperation between the two parliaments and other state bodies.”
He said that Karabakh’s opposition forces are not staging “large-scale protests” in Stepanakert because the authorities there continue to reject any settlement that would restore Azerbaijani control over the territory. By contrast, he said, the Armenian government is reluctant to make clear that “Artsakh was, is and will remain Armenian.”
Pashinian declared on April 13 that the international community is pressing Armenia to “lower the bar on the question of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status” and recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He signaled Yerevan’s intention to make such concessions to Baku.
Armenian opposition leaders portrayed the statement as further proof that Pashinian has agreed to Azerbaijani control over Karabakh. The authorities in Stepanakert also deplored it. In a resolution, the Karabakh parliament demanded that the Armenian authorities “abandon their current disastrous position.”
Pashinian insisted afterwards that he will not cut any peace deals with Azerbaijan without consulting with the Karabakh leadership.