Pashinyan on lost regions of Karabakh: ‘Let us be honest to admit that 5+2 was never a realistic option’

Nikol Pashinyan on Monday dismissed the political speculations over his government’s failure in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) peace talks, reaffirming the repeatedly voiced thesis on the impossibility of the seven regions’ return based on the  ‘5+2’ formula.

“Many years will pass, and the content of the negotiation documents will be exposed. And we will find out then that those negotiations underwent substantial changes in the autumn of 2015 and the winter of 2016,” the acting prime minister said at the National special session.

The statement came in response to crossbencher Tigran Urikhanyan who addressed third President Serzh Sargsyan’s earlier remark accusing the current government of torpedoing the peace process.

“It may turn out that the mediators started backing Azerbaijan’s principles in the autumn of 2015 and the winter of 2016, and the Madrid Principles were, in point of fact, a signboard for the underlying developments. Let us be honest to admit that 5+2 was never a realistic option - given that back in 2016, Serzh Sargsyan was speaking about seven regions. The two were the ‘negotiation reserve’ so to speak in case those negotiations ever reached the irreversibility point or the process became less attractive for the sides at different stages of developments,” he added.

Pashinyan said he also knows of a letter which the former president wrote to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs at the time, expressing concern over the potential number of the Azerbaijanis who could be considered residents of Karabakh (by the time of the referendum to be held under the Madrid Principles).

“The fact gives us the clear knowledge that also Azerbaijani residents of Nagorno-Karabakh were supposed to take part in the referendum.  And to be a resident of Nagorno-Karabakh, one has to reside in Nagorno-Karabakh in essence. So where the ethnic Azerbaijani residents of Nagorno-Karabakh supposed to reside then? I hope we all understand the answer to this question,” he said, noting that any point to which Armenia agreed at the negotiating table met Azerbaijan’s strong opposition.