Fakti: Awarding Armenian PM for peace “absurd”

Bulgarian publication FAKTI has questioned the decision to award Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan the Hessian Peace Prize for his contribution to peace in the South Caucasus, describing the decision as absurd.

The author said why the award organisers adopted what he considers a one-sided approach by failing to mention Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, arguing that the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict resulted from political will and compromises on both sides, Caliber.Az reports.

The publication recalls that in the summer of 2025, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia laid the groundwork for ending their long-running confrontation by signing a joint declaration mediated by US President Donald Trump.

“Although the end of the conflict was the result of political will and compromises on both sides, the award was awarded and presented only to Pashinyan. The Armenian prime minister made a special trip to Germany and accepted the award, pretending not to notice the jury's one-sided approach,” the article says.

The author argues that the Hessian Peace Prize decision contrasts sharply with other international awards, where Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation was recognised as a joint achievement of the leadership of the two countries.

“In February 2026, Aliyev and Pashinyan jointly received the 'Zayed' Prize for Human Fraternity - the award included an international jury and a cash fund of $1 million. In April this year, - The 'Guernica' Award for Peace and Reconciliation. The administration of the Hessian Prize ignored this international context and deleted Azerbaijan from the general formula for peace, turning the bilateral political achievement into a personal merit of Nikol Pashinyan,” the author noted.

The report also questions the award organisers’ decision to highlight democratic reforms in Armenia. According to the publication, the organisers said Pashinyan “consistently leads the process of democratic reforms” and is making “tireless efforts to build democratic institutions in the country.”

The article, however, cites several developments that the author says cast doubt on those assessments. “However, the indisputable facts speak to the contrary - the criminal prosecution of the opposition in Armenia has reached its peak, and during the parliamentary elections on June 7, 2026, European observers identified a number of significant violations.”

FAKTI also cites remarks by Farah Karimi, the OSCE Special Coordinator and Head of the Short-Term Observer Mission, who said the election campaign in Armenia “was extremely confrontational, accompanied by divisive rhetoric,” while allegations of vote-buying and other violations of electoral legislation were also reported.

In connection with the alleged pressure surrounding the election campaign, the article cites figures from Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office, according to which 210 criminal cases related to the elections were opened between February 7 and June 7, 2026, with criminal proceedings initiated against 349 people.

The author also highlighted a criminal case against the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church amid Pashinyan’s open confrontation with Catholicos Garegin II. According to him, Garegin II has been one of the prime minister’s most persistent critics, calling for his resignation and accusing his government of losing the 2020 Karabakh war.

A criminal case was opened against the Catholicos on February 14, while he was also barred from leaving the country, the publication says.

“Awarding a politician for the development of peace in the entire region - this in itself is nonsense. But it is doubly strange that the administration of the award refers to the 'democratic achievements' of Armenia, which so far represent nothing more than a series of criminal cases, arrests and trials against opposition activists,” the article added.

The author concludes that awarding the prize to Pashinyan is not an impartial assessment of his contribution to peace, but rather what the publication describes as a deliberate political gesture by European elites towards Armenia amid the country’s geopolitical shift towards the European Union (EU).

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov