We have today established peace with Azerbaijan, and we cannot make decisions that would undermine or collapse that established peace, or return us to the logic of conflict. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a discussion titled “The process of socio-economic integration of Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“We will not allow ourselves to keep you in the Republic of Armenia (my apologies for the word) in the status of hostages,” he said.
Pashinyan recalled that he is originally from Ijevan, and that a significant portion of the population of the Ijevan region came from Nagorno-Karabakh 200 years ago. They now have citizenship of the Republic of Armenia and, despite having memories, live and are settled in Armenia.
“I believe the most important thing that the Republic of Armenia must do toward you is to have an honest, direct, and straightforward approach. And I also want to say that, looking back at our history, I think about you with the understanding that the Republic of Armenia has had a lack of sincerity and honesty, because I just said we do not want to keep you in the Republic of Armenia in the status of hostages, and we must admit that, in some sense, in some logic, from some perspective, for a long time we have kept you in Nagorno-Karabakh in the status of hostages.
The most difficult thing for a person is uncertainty about what will happen tomorrow. A person who does not know or cannot clearly imagine what will happen tomorrow faces the hardest situation, and I believe you know best what that means.
We must put an end to wandering. We must put an end to life as expatriates. We have you, you have a state, and that state is the Republic of Armenia. Our entire strategy today is based on you settling in the Republic of Armenia in both the physical and psychological sense, and together making this state—which is a great blessing for us, for the Armenian people—more prosperous, more secure, safer, and ultimately being able (in my assessment, we have already been able) to move from the logic of survival to the logic of development and prosperity, the logic of peace. I believe we must focus precisely on solving these issues,” he said.
