Thomasyan: "Nikol Pashinyan Must Answer These Questions Without Lying"

President of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, independent Taguhi Thomasyan writes:

“President of the European Council Charles Michel has stated that Armenia and Azerbaijan have recognized each other's territorial integrity: 'The leaders expressed unequivocal commitment to the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, accordingly recognizing Armenia’s territorial integrity of 29.8 thousand square kilometers and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity of 89.6 thousand square kilometers. The final delimitation will be agreed upon during negotiations,' announced Charles Michel, whose statement was later edited on the EC website: 89,600 square kilometers became 86,600 square kilometers.

In this situation, several questions arise, to which Nikol Pashinyan must provide clear, direct answers without deception. A question emerges from Mr. Michel's statement: have you recognized the territory of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic as the territory of present-day Azerbaijan, which also includes the diminished territory of the Republic of Artsakh? Why is there no mention of Artsakh?

By stating the territorial figure of Soviet Azerbaijan, on what basis have you annulled the existence of the self-determined Republic of Artsakh according to Soviet legal norms, and in contradiction to our unified struggle and international law, you are surrendering Artsakh to Azerbaijan? Why do you believe you have the right to speak on behalf of the Armenian people by handing over Artsakh to Azerbaijan? My initiated petition, which has been running for over 10 days, speaks to the contrary; we have already collected several hundred thousand signatures, and I must say that a vast majority of Armenians do not accept Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

On what basis are you nullifying the right of self-determination of the people of Artsakh? Your actions contradict the decision of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia dated July 8, 1992, which states: 'For the Republic of Armenia, any international or domestic document in which the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will be indicated as part of Azerbaijan is unacceptable.' Therefore, Nikol Pashinyan, any such document signed by you has serious legitimacy issues.

On what basis are you limiting the negotiations between Stepanakert and Baku to only the agenda of rights and security? By recognizing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, how will you ensure the resolution of the enclave issues? How many enclave areas from Armenia have you promised to hand over to Azerbaijan, and what will you receive in return?

Dear partners in the European Union, the return of prisoners, missing persons, and forcibly disappeared individuals should have taken place immediately after the war; however, for nearly three years, our prisoners have become subjects of political bargaining, which is strictly unacceptable from the perspective of international humanitarian law. The search operations for the missing persons have been halted since January 2022.

Nikol Pashinyan is obligated to answer these questions—without lying.”