Armenia Lost Both Theoretical and Practical Opportunities to Not Be Under Azerbaijan, Says Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made a Facebook post addressing the reactions to his recent Facebook press conference. In the post, he stated: "Some of the reactions and comments regarding my interview on December 24 are at least puzzling for the following reasons:

1. In that interview, I spoke about the negotiation content that was formed before I became prime minister in 2018, and therefore I had no influence on their existence.
2. In response to the question, I denied the claim made by Serzh Sargsyan at the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) congress that the negotiation content they left guaranteed the Armenian status of Nagorno-Karabakh. I denied this because, according to that negotiation content, the right of Azerbaijanis living in Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) to participate in the determination of the status of NKAO as NKAO residents was established. Therefore, if they are residents of NKAO according to the negotiation content, they must have lived in NKAO, and the Armenian side never objected to this negotiation content before the 2018 revolution. Considering that the referendum on the final status of NKAO, according to the negotiation content formed before I became prime minister, could occur 100 years later, it is predictable what kind of demographic changes would occur in Artsakh under these conditions.
3. Regarding the status of NKAO before a potential referendum on the status issue, I mentioned in the interview that in 2016 the mediators presented three negotiation packages (one before the April War, and two afterward), in which, unlike the 2011 Kazan document, the phrase 'Nagorno-Karabakh receives an interim status' is absent. In the third of these three packages presented in August 2016, a provision appeared stating that the decision on the legal and practical mechanisms for organizing life in Nagorno-Karabakh would be made by the UN Security Council after consulting with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the current OSCE chair. I considered this to be a catastrophe in the negotiation process because it is evident that the UN Security Council would make all decisions based on the logic of its earlier resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, where NKAO was recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
4. Taking into account this and several other important negotiation issues, I insisted from the podium of the National Assembly that with the negotiation content and realities that existed before I became prime minister in 2018, Artsakh had lost both the theoretical and practical opportunities to not be under Azerbaijan.
5. As prime minister, I have not reconciled with this but have fought against it. This is also why the war has begun.
6. Today, there are people saying that I should not negotiate on behalf of NKAO, who criticized me from 2018 for saying that I have no mandate to negotiate on behalf of Nagorno-Karabakh.
7. I understand that many respected individuals are now complaining about the negotiation content that caused and resulted from the 2016 war. Back then, either they were unaware or did not have the right to complain. I also complain about this content and have done everything I could to neutralize it. But I cannot hide the truth, forgive me."