Pashinyan offers Baku to jointly plan roadmap to move past refugee return issues
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has made an ‘open and public proposal’ to Azerbaijan to ‘adopt a joint roadmap aimed at simultaneously’ putting aside this issue of the return of refugees to so-called ‘western Azerbaijan’ and Nagorno-Karabakh.
‘Because removing this issue means, from a long-term strategic perspective, eliminating any potential conflict situation’, Pashinyan said.
The remarks came during a press briefing with Armenian journalists in Germany, and in response to Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry claims regarding a new strategic agenda adopted by the EU and Armenia in Brussels on 2 December.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry shared its concerns on Tuesday, claiming that the signed document ‘distorts the realities’ and is against the ‘peace agenda’ between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
They also insisted that the classification of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian residents as refugees was a ‘vivid example of the bias against Azerbaijan’, asserting that Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians ‘voluntarily migrated’ and ‘refused reintegration plans proposed by Azerbaijan’.
It also requested that ‘harmful provisions’ — including a nonexistent section calling Armenian prisoners in Baku ‘prisoners of war’ — be removed.
A day after the Azerbaijani statement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry rejected the Azerbaijani accusations.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
‘Western Azerbaijan’ vs Nagorno-Karabakh
During Wednesday's briefing, Pashinyan stressed that, in his view, Baku continues to promote its so-called ‘western Azerbaijan’ narrative, while at the same time objecting to the inclusion of the phrase ‘Karabakh Armenians displaced following Azerbaijan’s military operation’ in the Armenia–EU strategic agenda.
Referring to his earlier remarks, Pashinyan reiterated that he told Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians that their right to return to the region was ‘not realistic’.
‘If we continue to maintain the agenda of return, it means we are once again restarting the Karabakh movement — but I have said that we must not resume the Karabakh movement. The Karabakh movement has come to an end, and attempts to revive it are not useful. But on the other hand, in Armenia we also see that Azerbaijan constantly uses the incomprehensible term “western Azerbaijan” ’, Pashinyan said.
Armenia rejects the ‘western Azerbaijan’ narrative, asserting that it contains a territorial claim by Azerbaijan against Armenia.
Earlier in November, OC Media reviewed leaked documents revealing how Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration had coordinated and funded the international rollout of the ‘western Azerbaijan’ narrative, which, while framed as humanitarian, lays the groundwork for potential irredentist claims on Armenian territory.
Rasmus Canbäck
Even though the proposal offered on Wednesday was the first of its kind, Pashinyan has previously called discussions related to the return of Armenian and Azerbaijani refugees to be ‘a dangerous factor’ which ‘damages’ the peace established since the Washington agreements on 8 August.
During his press briefing on Wednesday, Pashinyan also criticised discussions in Armenia by former Nagorno-Karabakh authorities on the day of the Nagorno-Karabakh constitution about their possible return to the region.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Following the discussions and Pashinyan’s criticism, Armenian authorities raided the representation of Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia on Thursday afternoon. The searches are ongoing as of publication.
