Price of Nikol Pashinyan's "confessions" Goal to retain power

Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia, has once again made a series of shockingly distasteful confessions. It seems that, as the New Year holidays approach, he has developed a habit of regularly shocking not just the public in his own country, but also the wider audience with his startling admissions. 

For example, he recently revealed that, despite having lived with Anna Hakobyan for 27 years, they have never officially formalized their relationship. "We are not married, neither civilly nor in church. Our relationship is confirmed by our shared children," he stated. What prompted Pashinyan to make such a remark, and how did he intend to present himself by sharing this personal detail? The true reason remains unclear, but it’s evident that many in Armenia were taken aback by the unnecessary reminder of a long-known fact about the Pashinyan-Hakobyan duo's personal life.

Once again, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has made a shockingly bold statement. "Since 1994, meaning after the ceasefire, the negotiation process from the very beginning had been about the return of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan. The negotiation process did not have any other content. The narratives about another content were introduced in the Republic of Armenia exclusively for resolving internal political issues," he wrote on Facebook.

In other words, Pashinyan is blatantly attempting to shift the blame for the situation onto the previous Armenian authorities—chiefly, onto the ousted former president Serzh Sargsyan, who was toppled by Pashinyan. The timing of Pashinyan's remarks is also telling. He is currently facing a wave of criticism from political opponents, especially from Sargsyan's supporters. In short, they are accusing Pashinyan of "surrendering national interests" and "being ready to comply with Azerbaijan's demands." These accusations have intensified since Pashinyan agreed to dissolve the long-defunct OSCE Minsk Group, which, it should be noted, was originally created to address the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. With the conflict resolved, there is no longer a need for the Minsk Group. But when has common sense ever guided the decisions in Armenia?

The essence of Pashinyan's manoeuvre, as well as the timing of his statements, is now clear. However, there are some nuances to consider. "In this context,t I made a big mistake: In 2018, upon becoming acquainted with the negotiation content, I did not admit the abovementioned to myself (the patriotism of the well-known type did not allow me to) and therefore I did not clarify it all to the people," Pashinyan noted.

What can one say about this? A well-known saying goes that one cannot be "half-pregnant." And that's precisely the point—Pashinyan is desperately trying to refute not just this humorous saying, but a basic medical truth. It’s as though, having started to express regret, he halts halfway through. After reviewing the actual contents of the negotiations, he ended up parroting the same rhetoric as his predecessors. It was he who once shouted in the occupied city of Khankendi, "Karabakh is Armenia, period." It was he who danced drunkenly on the Jidir Duzu plain in Shusha. He claimed that his rise to power would strengthen Armenia’s position in the negotiation process with Azerbaijan. He triggered the military confrontation in the summer of 2020 along the Tovuz section of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Ultimately, it was his actions that made a new Armenian-Azerbaijani war inevitable. During the conflict, Pashinyan personally ordered missile strikes on peaceful Azerbaijani cities, resulting in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Azerbaijani elderly, women, and children.

Theoretically speaking, Pashinyan could have apologized to Azerbaijan for all these crimes. But he hasn’t. Instead, he prefers to lie and twist the truth in order to maintain power.

Even after the 44-day war and the signing of the Trilateral Statement on November 10, 2020, by Pashinyan, Armenia continued to provide political, financial, and military support to the Karabakh junta. This support included facilitating mine terrorism, which claimed the lives of hundreds of Azerbaijanis. These actions by the Armenian government ultimately led to Baku's decision to carry out an anti-terrorist operation in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, Armenia and France attempted to push for an anti-Azerbaijani resolution in the UN Security Council. Yes, the deceitfulness of Nikol Pashinyan, who now claims to acknowledge his past mistakes, knows no bounds. This is further evidenced by his refusal to remove territorial claims against Azerbaijan from Armenia's constitution. He fails to address the main obstacle to signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, while continuously trying to present himself as a "peacemaker." Given these actions, it is hardly surprising that Pashinyan's latest false admission appears to be yet another attempt to retain power by shifting the blame for all his failures onto his predecessors.