Peace as a resource Simple and complex theses of Pashinyan

On September 15, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan delivered a keynote speech at the conference “Comprehensive Security and Resilience – 2025.” The context of the conference and the speech is well known – the ruling elites in Yerevan, in general, aim for long-term peace with Baku and express the need to abandon the old ideology of a “mythical Armenia.” At the same time, however, they try not to antagonise the revanchist segment of society too much (keeping in mind the upcoming elections next year), which results in occasional “relapses” – for example, in the form of controversial statements by government members regarding the constitution or tacit approval of the unveiling of the “Call of Artsakh” monument. On the other hand, the very fact of opening such a monument signals that revanchist forces are vigilant and accumulating strength for a potential strike.

Pashinyan’s statements, however, reinforce the government’s course towards sustainable peace with its neighbours. It should be noted that, as usual, the Prime Minister could not resist his favourite convoluted phrasing. Yet, unlike his previous speeches, these heavy constructions were sometimes followed by clear messages.

For example, after several phrases that were extremely difficult to understand, Pashinyan gradually arrives at the core: “If you recognise your territorial integrity in one way while your core security system recognises it in another way, it means that you are at least losing your territorial integrity between these two perceptions.”

It’s still not entirely clear, but one can make an assumption: the meaning is that Armenia cannot expect respect for its territorial integrity as long as it does not respect the territorial integrity of its neighbours.

Pashinyan himself confirms this point without any ambiguity: “This is where the most important conversation took place in October 2022 in Prague. And is Azerbaijan ready to recognise the territorial integrity of Armenia? Because if it turns out that it is not ready, it will change the entire content of the conversation. First, we had to decide what our territorial integrity is, and we decided to rely on unquestionable legitimacy.”

Pashinyan also spoke about the armed forces. Emphasising that the army’s task is to protect the internationally recognised territory of the Republic of Armenia, the Prime Minister again could not resist expansive reflections:

“Then, alas, we realised: if the number-one instrument of ensuring security is the army, it means you have no security. When the number-one instrument is the army, it’s better not to use this formula at all. One should say: there is no security at all. Because a ‘strong army’ — and I will ask again: stronger than whom? Stronger than how many potential opponents? With what GDP and population size? Stronger than the armies of how many countries whose populations number in the hundreds of millions and whose GDPs exceed ours by hundreds of times?”

Pashinyan answers his own questions as follows: “The army should not even be the second, third, fourth, or fifth instrument of security. The army should be the very last. One must arrange things so that the army is in 15th, 20th, 50th, or 100th place. This does not mean diminishing the role of the army.”

Meanwhile, the idea itself is very sound. Armenia cannot compete with Azerbaijan and Türkiye in military strength. It will always lag behind, so the main strategy should be to position the country in a way that ensures peace and cooperation with all neighbours.

Despite the accuracy of his ideas, Pashinyan certainly surprised with the way he presented them. Perhaps it was unnecessary to wave them like a red flag in front of revanchists, who are now likely to shout from every corner that the Prime Minister wants to “disarm” the Armenian army.

Or perhaps Pashinyan has, so to speak, caught the wave, and his reflections on the army resonate perfectly with the expectations of ordinary Armenians, because at their core these thoughts are about peace. Here it would be logical to cite another statement from the Armenian Prime Minister: “Armenia has never been more secure than it is today. If in the spring I said there would be no war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, that there would be peace, now I want to state that from now on there is peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Pashinyan added.

Indeed, peace may well be the main resource that the current Prime Minister brings to the 2026 elections. And the closer the elections draw, the more desperate the attempts by revanchists will be to wrest this resource from the Prime Minister’s hands.