Pashinian made clear on Tuesday that his administration unequivocally recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He also said he is ready to sign an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal that would commit the two South Caucasus states to recognizing each other’s Soviet-era borders.
In a joint statement issue on Wednesday, the five political groups represented in the Karabakh parliament said Pashinian’s remarks are “consistent with the position of official Baku.” They again accused him of undermining the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination which was for decades supported by international mediators.
Responding to the criticism, Pashinian said: “We need to delve into issues because if we don’t thoroughly understand their essence we will always make mistakes and we already did. This is what my statement was all about. I respect and appreciate the views of Artsakh’s National Assembly but what I said is a different thing.”
“They usually misunderstand me [in Stepanakert] and it’s possible that they misunderstood me this time as well,” he told reporters.
A Karabakh opposition figure, Davit Galstian, dismissed the explanation when he spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“Our self-determination was formalized by the [Karabakh] Supreme Council in 1991 and Armenia’s authorities must reckon with that and at least not relegate the Karabakh Armenians’ self-determination to the background,” he said. “Yet in his speeches Nikol Pashinian tries to … trample underfoot our right to self-determination.”
Karabakh leaders have repeatedly criticized Pashinian ever since he signaled in April 2022 his readiness to “lower the bar” on Karabakh’s status acceptable to Armenia. Pashinian and his entourage also stopped making references to Karabakh’s self-determination in their public statements.
Armenian opposition leaders have been even more critical of Pashinian’s latest pronouncements.