Why wasn't the issue of the return of our compatriots held in Azerbaijan included in the text of the agreement?
The answer to this question is also clearly given in the Prime Minister’s message:
“On August 11, the initialed text of the 'Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan' was published, and as a result of this publication, the conspiracy theories that had been circulating around it for several years simply collapsed like a house of cards.
Our citizens have welcomed the initialed text of the agreement with satisfaction. Of course, there are also substantive criticisms.
The first of those concerns the fact that the issue of our compatriots held in detention in Azerbaijan was not included in the text of the peace agreement.
Negotiations on the peace agreement began in the spring of 2022, and we made serious efforts to include that issue in the agreement. But the longer the negotiations went on, we realized that including the issue of our compatriots held in Azerbaijan might be interpreted to mean that their return would only happen after the signing and ratification of the agreement.
However, we have not operated under that assumption, and we do not intend to. As a result of not working from that assumption, 58 of our compatriots have returned from captivity since the start of the peace negotiations. If this issue had been left to the peace agreement, that might not have happened at all—and very likely would not have happened.
Even now, significant diplomatic work is being done to resolve this issue as quickly as possible, and you recently witnessed an expression of that work.
The second substantive criticism is that the initialed text of the peace agreement closes the Karabakh issue.
In response to this criticism, I must remind you that back in March 2025, I made a statement from the high podium of the National Assembly, and later addressed the people with what seemed like a strange call from a Prime Minister.
I said that we should not continue the Karabakh Movement. I said that I would lead Armenia with the logic of not continuing the Karabakh Movement, and if the people disagreed with this logic, I called on them to stage a revolution.
The people—that is, you, dear citizens—did not carry out a revolution, because, like me, you understood that peace is not possible without closing the Karabakh issue, and that certain forces have used the Karabakh issue as a tool to prevent Armenia's independence, sovereignty, state-building, and development.
Regarding our compatriots displaced from Karabakh, I have publicly stated more than once that I do not consider their vision of return to be realistic. And in general, I consider bilateral discussions of the return of people who became refugees at the start of the conflict in Armenia and Azerbaijan to be dangerous and a factor that could undermine the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Bilateral attempts to raise those topics will bring nothing to the refugees themselves, but will become a new source of tension between the two states. I have also shared this view with official Baku. And I record that yes, it is a dangerous and harmful topic for the newly established peace.
My understanding is that anyone who disagrees with this strategy—whether knowingly or unknowingly—falls into the logic of reviving the conflict.
Many conflicts, including the Karabakh conflict, started with seemingly innocent and simple humanitarian or cultural questions—and we all remember what they turned into, and unfortunately, we have all felt it on our own skin.
Our vision for the future of our compatriots displaced from Karabakh is the following: with the support of Armenia and the international community, they must settle in the Republic of Armenia, live here, create, and establish themselves as full citizens of the Republic of Armenia,” stated Nikol Pashinyan.
