By Turkiye Today

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the movement for the unification of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region with Armenia “a fatal mistake.”

In a video circulated by Armenian media outlets on Sunday, Pashinyan argued that Karabakh was not Armenian territory.

“It must be stated that the Karabakh movement was a fatal mistake for us,” he said.

“What made it ours? Explain to me, what made it ours? We built schools there? kindergartens? factories?lived there? but fundamentally, how was it ours? It wasn’t ours, it wasn’t ours,” he added.

Karabakh, populated for decades mainly by ethnic Armenians, was at the center of a long-running conflict between the two South Caucasus countries following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

‘Peace climate has emerged with Azerbaijan’

Pashinyan also said a climate of peace had emerged with Azerbaijan, describing the current situation as unprecedented since Armenia’s independence.

“There has been no gunfire and no loss of life for two years. This is an unprecedented situation since our independence,” he said.

“We are now working in close cooperation with Azerbaijan to strengthen and institutionalize peace,” he added.

Pashinyan made the remarks during the opening of the 8th summit of the European Political Community (EPC) in Yerevan.

Expressing satisfaction with hosting the summit, he said the EPC platform had played a critical role in establishing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan said he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a “game-changing” decision during the EPC summit in 2022.

 

“Armenia and Azerbaijan recognized each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. This understanding created a realistic opportunity to achieve a peace agreement between the two countries,” he said.