Stance of people of Armenia, Artsakh is decisive in NK conflict settlement, says Pashinyan

The kind of government that can resolve the NK conflict without taking into consideration the people’s opinion cannot exist in Armenia, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in parliament today in response to a question from MP Shirak Torosyan.

“No government, even the most dictatorial government, can solve the Karabakh issue in Armenia without taking into account the people’s opinion. The people’s opinion is the decisive factor that should decide whether a given option of solution of the NK conflict is acceptable or not. Even what’s been discussed at the negotiations table isn’t significant. It’s been discussed for twenty years, and what happened? There cannot be a secret solution of the Karabakh conflict,” Pashinyan said.

He emphasized that the stance of the people and government of Artsakh has decisive significance and that this isn’t a matter of whim. According to Pashinyan, the conflict won’t be solved if a given option of solution isn’t accepted by the people of Artsakh and Armenia. He said that the viewpoint of the Armenian side is that without clarifying the status of Artsakh the solution of the conflict is impossible to be imagined.

“If an option is developed during the negotiations process which we will find to be worthy of presenting to the people’s discussion, naturally I will be first to do so,” he said.

He ruled out any “secret” solution of the conflict.

According to him, as long as the government of Artsakh isn’t involved in the process itself, it means that the settlement of the issue isn’t close.

“I haven’t said that we won’t negotiate until the Artsakh government is involved. What I have said is that I am authorized to negotiate on behalf of Armenia, but I am not authorized to negotiate on behalf of Artsakh, because the people of Artsakh do not participate in the formation of the Armenian government. But this doesn’t mean that I am saying that we shouldn’t negotiate, “ Pashinyan said.