Pashinyan's Achilles' Heel: Armen Ashotyans

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's speech at the PACE, as is often the case with his foreign visits, was weak. This man stubbornly fails to understand that the "velvet" brand is no longer sellable abroad, and it is impossible to base the country's foreign and security policies solely on it. This was stated by Armen Ashotyan, the Vice President of the Republican Party of Armenia, on his Facebook page.

In his post, he particularly noted:

"The discourse regarding the settlement of the Artsakh issue, which has become a hallmark of 'peaceful' policy, is strange.

What does it mean to prepare for peace? If he means propaganda of hatred, then there is no such propaganda either in Armenia or in Artsakh, and in this case, the emphasis should have been exclusively on Azerbaijan.

On the other hand, if he refers to preparing for compromises in the settlement process, then until the principles and conditions for settlement are known, a peace agenda cannot be formed.

It was also extremely strange that there was no mention of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Pashinyan did not speak about the genocide at all, neither in his main speech nor when responding to a question about neighboring countries.

Pashinyan has evidently dodged the question regarding politically motivated persecutions. It is unpleasant to acknowledge that the Prime Minister is more aggressive and intolerant towards his domestic political opponents than towards our adversaries in the outside world.

Lastly, let me remind you that the much-praised Armenia-EU agreement, which Nikol Pashinyan considered a reform agenda, is exclusively a result of the previous governments and personally Serzh Sargsyan's accomplishments.

Foreign policy remains Pashinyan’s Achilles' heel."