Claim That We Are Not Discussing the Issue of Prisoners Is Not True – Nikol Pashinyan

YEREVAN — In an interview with Public Television, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan addressed the following issue:

“People say Armenia agrees to the two points proposed by Azerbaijan and makes concessions. First, we concede without discussing the issue of prisoners. Second, we concede without insisting that Azerbaijan withdraw from our occupied territories. We say we’ll leave that to the delimitation process. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan makes no concessions. It continues with the same rhetoric: ‘you must do this, and this, and this too,’ and only then will they consider signing.”

Pashinyan emphasized that we must stop perceiving the world through Azerbaijan’s vocabulary, rhetoric, and frameworks.

“This is the most important point. Unfortunately, I understand that some political forces in Armenia are doing everything they can to ensure the Armenian public, the international community, and even our own reality and region are perceived through the formulas proposed by Azerbaijan. What we were just discussing relates to that perspective.

Second, the claim that we are not discussing the issue of prisoners does not reflect reality. It simply isn’t true. Let me remind everyone—how many were there in December 2023 when 32 of our captured brothers returned to the Republic of Armenia?

Imagine I was asked this question one day or even five hours before they returned. Any answer I gave then would have been deemed insufficient. Even back in December 2020, during a meeting with the families of the captured in the room next to this very hall, I gave a specific date for their return—and it didn’t happen. That was the first and last time I made a promise regarding that issue. I realized that if something is beyond our control, it is wrong to create clear expectations.

It is better to face criticism for uncertainty than to create expectations and then disappoint. So, what have we said in the draft peace agreement and its regulations? We’ve said that our border is defined by the administrative boundaries of the former Soviet republics. We’ve declared the Alma-Ata Declaration as the foundational principle, and based on that, we must carry out border delimitation.

To say that we are standing precisely on that border—down to the millimeter—while Azerbaijan is not, wouldn’t be entirely accurate. Azerbaijan claims that Armenia is preparing for military action, for a force-based scenario. But we ask—what item on our agenda requires a force-based solution?

If we’ve recognized Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity according to the Alma-Ata Declaration and the borders of the former Soviet Socialist Republics, what issue would we attempt to solve by force?

The only issue that could theoretically fall under a force-based solution would be the liberation of over 200 square kilometers of occupied territory. But we’ve stated clearly that such an issue does not exist on our agenda and won’t be added to it.

Why? Because the two documents I mentioned provide the tools and opportunities for us to achieve that: in places where we are not precisely aligned with the border, we will adjust. Where Azerbaijan is not correctly aligned, they must do the same. Therefore, any talk of a military scenario is simply nonsense,” the Prime Minister concluded.