Parliament Speaker says Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s territory
Speaking to journalists, Simonyan stated that Armenia, through the Prague process, recognized its own territorial integrity, thereby safeguarding itself from colonization, loss of sovereignty, and becoming a peripheral state.
“Why do you say ‘Artsakh’? And then why do you feel offended when Azerbaijani names are used for Armenia’s territories? You are all engaged in presenting claims. In that case, I ask you not to feel offended if somewhere someone calls Yerevan ‘Erivan’ or uses other names for Lake Sevan. Don’t make noise about it. Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s—why use another name?” he said, as reported by Aravot.am .
Simonyan added that “anyone speaking negatively about the Prague process does not want Armenia to exist as an independent state.”
“Which of Azerbaijan’s conditions are we fulfilling, can you say? Our constitutional reform agenda existed back in early 2020,” he said.
Addressing the issue of removing the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution, he stated: “The new situation requires new solutions. If you start skiing, you must follow the rules so you don’t fall and injure yourself. Isn’t it good that Armenia is not involved in any process where our children would die? Is that bad? Yes, the current government—Civil Contract—is a party of peace, and the others, mainly opposition forces, are a party of war. And yes, the 2026 election will be about peace or possible war.”
Simonyan also referred to the recent dispute in the metro involving Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and a woman from Nagorno-Karabakh.
“And the bullying directed at my family and the prime minister’s family—don’t you notice that?” he added.
On the morning of March 22, in the metro, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attempted to give a pin shaped like Armenia’s map to a woman traveling with her young son, but she refused, saying: “We have a different map.” During the exchange, Pashinyan said: “None of you should speak contemptuously about this map; next time, don’t you, who fled, try to say that I gave away Karabakh.”
Later, Pashinyan invited Armine Mosiyan to the government to apologize live. Mosiyan is the daughter of Meruzhan Mosiyan, a field commander killed during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1993.
