In a new video on Facebook Oskanian claimed that this statement is one of the main causes of the closure of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan that has put Karabakh Armenians “on the brink of starvation.”
“Pashinian made a big mistake. Pashinian must admit he made that mistake and correct it. Today he has the opportunity to retract that statement, just based on today’s situation. He can clearly say that ‘I’ve tried something, but I see that our opponent is abusing it, so I retract that statement, and today I have the right to do that’,” Oskanian said.
The former foreign minister said he believes that the Prague statement made following Pashinian’s quadrilateral meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron and President of the European Council Charles Michel on October 6 last year “has become a serious obstacle, because no one can do anything to unblock the corridor.”
“Russia has already openly said it. Citing the Prague statement and Pashinian’s signature under it that has significantly changed the entire essence of the November 9, [2020 trilateral] statement, Russia says that today it cannot do anything and it says it openly. The West doesn’t say it openly, but it says the same in private meetings,” Oskanian said.
Without giving names Oskanian also claimed that “many people abroad are doing serious work, both at the governmental and legislative levels, trying to change the content of the negotiations, but they are facing the same wall.”
“They are told that the government of Armenia has a different approach… and that they should rather work with their own [Armenian] government,” the former Armenian diplomat said.
“Believe me, if there is a change in the attitude of the Armenian government today, the attitude of the international community will change dramatically, too,” Oskanian said.
Oskanian suggested that today it is still possible for Pashinian to go back on his statement without provoking a war, while today’s situation, in the former foreign minister’s view, only increases the possibility of war. “Because Pashinian has made a lot of promises to Azerbaijan, but the signing of the document stalls,” he said.
“I think that it will not be easy for Pashinian to sign such a document, because its content has nothing to do with the interests of the Armenian people. Naturally, this can be dragged out, and this is where the danger lies, and believe me, the mediators will not be able to do anything here, because all the time you promise something to your opponent, which you do not fulfill. That’s why I’m just asking, I’m begging, that we change the approach, the narrative of today’s negotiations as it contains a serious danger, and the possibility for doing that really exists today,” Oskanian concluded.
Pashinian has repeatedly supported mutual recognition of territorial integrity by Armenia and Azerbaijan as a way to move forward in hammering out a peace agreement between the two South Caucasus nations. In his several public remarks he said that Armenia was ready to recognize Azerbaijan’s Soviet-era borders if Baku does the same in respect with the Armenian borders that existed during the Soviet times. While this means also recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh within the borders of Azerbaijan, the Pashinian government has insisted that an internationally visible dialogue take place between Baku and Stepanakert on the rights and security of Karabakh Armenians.
Earlier, Pashinian and members of his political teams also dismissed Oskanian’s offer to lead diplomatic efforts on changing the course of the current negotiations with Azerbaijan. In a recent speech in parliament Pashinian, in particular, suggested that all of the steps publically proposed by the former foreign minister to be taken to raise the issue of at least an autonomous status for Nagorno-Karabakh have actually been taken by the current administration.