Pashinyan: Armenia Is Gradually Overcoming the Blockade

YEREVAN — Azerbaijan’s decision to lift all restrictions on the transit of goods through its territory to Armenia signifies that Armenia is step by step overcoming the blockade, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during the October 23 session of the Armenian government.

“In the near future, important structural changes will take place in our economy. For two days now, there has been discussion about Azerbaijan’s announcement lifting the restrictions on the transit of goods to Armenia. This is a very important decision—it shows that the Washington Declaration and the agreements reached there are not just statements, as some have tried to portray, but declarations that have led to tangible results,” Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister noted that while negative developments are frequently discussed, positive ones often go unnoticed.
“When a gunshot is heard in a village, it immediately becomes a hot topic on social media the next day. But when months pass in a village without a single gunshot, no one talks about it. There are people who say, ‘Armenia is collapsing.’ These people simply do not know Armenia. There are institutions, organizations, and political philosophies that exist within the narrative of a collapsing Armenia. Their entire activity is built around that concept—and if Armenia is not collapsing, they lose their reason to exist. Therefore, to maintain even a minimal space for their activity, they must claim that Armenia is collapsing. But that no longer works—the empty seats of the opposition in Parliament yesterday during the government’s question-and-answer session speak for themselves,” said Pashinyan, referring to the opposition MPs’ boycott of the parliamentary session.

The Prime Minister added that this should not create the impression that there are no problems or that the government is unaware of them. He emphasized that no one knows Armenia’s problems better than the government itself.