Let's Not Engage in Self-Deception and Harbor Empty Hopes: PM Pashinyan on Ter-Petrosyan's Article

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan suggested during the inquiry committee on the 2020 war to address the historical milestones of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

According to the Prime Minister, among the first significant milestones in the history of the process are the OSCE Lisbon Summit and Armenia's first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan's article published on November 1, 1997, titled "War or Peace: A Time to Get Serious," where he discusses the necessity for compromises.

“If we summarize Ter-Petrosyan's statements briefly, it leads to the conclusion that the status quo cannot be maintained for a long time. We must not engage in self-deception and harbor empty hopes. In the matter of Nagorno-Karabakh's independence, we have no allies. Therefore, according to Ter-Petrosyan, we should focus on another issue: ensuring that Nagorno-Karabakh remains Armenian-populated in the coming millennium,” stated the Prime Minister.

Pashinyan emphasized that alongside all this, Ter-Petrosyan does not clearly and literally answer the question of what status Nagorno-Karabakh will have—whether it will be independent, part of Armenia, or part of Azerbaijan.

He recalled that one year before the publication of the article, Ter-Petrosyan had participated in presidential elections under the slogan “Victory, Stability, Progress,” yet, a year after questionable legitimacy elections, he spoke of peace rather than victory.

Pashinyan noted Ter-Petrosyan's assertion in the article that only six individuals have expertise in managing the conflict resolution process in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. “In essence, there were no secrets because all the secrets were articulated in public documents, which, however, were not directly accessible to the public at that time, as there was no internet and social networks. Nevertheless, it was not the case that the public knew nothing about them,” he added.