Pashinyan: Karabakh movement was a project to destroy Armenia’s statehood and future

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has revisited his 2019 “Artsakh [Karabakh] is Armenia, period” statement, explaining to lawmakers what he meant by it and how subsequent events led him to see the Karabakh movement as a project that threatened Armenia’s very statehood and future.

Speaking in parliament during debates on the government’s 2026-2031 program, he explained why he made the statement at the time, stressing that he now wants to put the issue to rest once and for all.

“God forbid, I have not forgotten that I made that statement, but having addressed this issue dozens of times in recent years, I want to put it to rest once and for all. It was my and my colleagues’ absolute dedication to the Karabakh movement, which was the political origin of Armenia’s older and middle generations, and to the idea of seeing Karabakh as Armenia, that gave us the courage to move forward, open the curtain and see what was behind the Karabakh movement,” the prime minister said, adding that for 35 years Armenia had spared absolutely nothing for Karabakh.

“Our government spared nothing for Karabakh. During our years in government, compared with the same period preceding our administration, we allocated more than $1 billion in funding to Karabakh. And, ultimately, we had the courage to open the curtain and see that the Karabakh movement was nothing other than a project aimed at nullifying Armenia’s statehood and future, and with the mandate given by the people, we closed that project, opening unlimited opportunities for the continued existence of Armenia’s statehood. Whether we will take advantage of these opportunities is another question,” Pashinyan said.

He assured that Armenia should not be sought not only in Azerbaijan, but also in Türkiye, Iran or Georgia, for two main reasons.

“First, when we seek Armenia outside Armenia, we leave the Republic of Armenia, its needs and interests, as well as our responsibility and obligation to take care of it, outside our field of vision and attention.

“Second, when we seek our homeland in the internationally recognized territories of our four neighbors, we open the door for them to seek their homeland in the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia. And so it turns out that we are seeking in four places, while the four of them are seeking in one place—in our country, our state, our homeland—and we find ourselves in a one-against-four situation.

“When we find ourselves in a one-against-four situation, we inevitably realize that we cannot live in such a neighborhood without external assistance, while the person who comes to help us live in our neighborhood turns out to be seeking their own homeland here as well, and is even offended that we take ourselves, our state and our independence seriously and do not understand that we are merely a caretaker, a temporary caretaker and a tool for restoring historical justice—their historical justice,” he explained.

According to Pashinyan, it is within this logic of the history of social psychology that the Armenian people have been subjected to massacres and genocide without even understanding why this was happening to them.

“And ‘Artsakh is Armenia, and period’ served this purpose: to finally open the curtain of our history, enter behind the scenes of our history and reality, and see what is happening.”