Pashinyan Vows to Reclaim Artsvashen

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

Pashinyan: We must take back Artsvashen.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia needs to reclaim Bashkand. This area was once an Armenian exclave surrounded by Azerbaijan during the Soviet era.

In a short post on his Facebook page on November 8, he wrote:

Due to border delimitation, we must reclaim Artsvashen (Bashkand) and other sovereign territories of Armenia that are currently occupied.

The Prime Minister didn't list the other territories he was referring to aside from Bashkand. It's worth noting that Armenian officials have stated that in May 2021, Azerbaijani forces crossed the border in southern Armenia and moved about 3 kilometers into Armenian land.

The process of setting the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia is being handled by commissions led by the deputy prime ministers of both countries, Shahin Mustafayev and Mher Grigoryan. They last met at the border on September 5.

These commissions were formed in 2022. Initially, Moscow and Brussels tried to help the commissions reach an agreement. Later, the commissions started meeting on their own.

During Soviet times, the Armenian SSR had a village called Bashkand within Azerbaijan's Gadabay district.

At the same time, the Azerbaijan SSR had four exclaves within Armenia: Yukhari Askipara, Sofulu, and Barkhudarly (all part of the Gazakh district), and Karki (part of Nakhchivan).

Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that these villages should be returned as the border is set.

Pashinyan: Concessions That Prevented the 44-Day War Would Have Jeopardized Armenia's Independence.

Nikol Pashinyan has offered a different explanation about the 44-Day War five years later. He claims that he didn't agree to make concessions that would have prevented the war because he thought it would put Armenia at risk of losing its independence.

Why didn't Armenia, its government, or myself agree to concessions before September 2020, which was the only chance to avoid the 44-Day War? The main reason is that those concessions would have made us more vulnerable and dependent, potentially leading to Armenia losing its independence and its status as a state, he stated in a message for the anniversary of Armenia's Declaration of Independence.

Armenia had to face setbacks to 'normalize' relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Opposition figure Artur Khachatryan responded to Pashinyan on Facebook, questioning whether Pashinyan intentionally led the country into war and defeat. Also questioned if his policies before the war were aimed at normalization through defeat, and if not, what was the goal?

Dashnak MP writes, So, he deliberately didn't prevent the war, which resulted in thousands of deaths, the loss of Artsakh, part of Armenia's territory, and the promise of a corridor to Azerbaijan... Basically, Pashinyan believes that the only way to 'preserve Armenia's independence and make that independence real' was through war, devastation, and the loss of thousands of lives.

The MP from the Hayastan faction concludes that Armenia had to lose to normalize relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

We are becoming a partner for the world.

The Prime Minister believes that not avoiding the 44-Day War through concessions has led to peace with Azerbaijan and dialogue with Turkey. We are becoming a partner for the world, Pashinyan wrote in his message for the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Pashinyan's statements about the Declaration of Independence of Armenia on August 23 have changed over the years. Initially, he saw it as his duty to achieve the ideals. In the past two years, the declaration's ideals have been seen as conflicting. In this year's message, the 35th anniversary of the declaration, Pashinyan says that the declaration contains Soviet patriotism. He says it was slowly instilled to make people think that an independent Armenia was strategically impossible because a country surrounded by conflict can't build real independence.

After becoming Prime Minister and learning more, Pashinyan became convinced that the Karabakh Movement shouldn't continue because it would mean the end of Armenia's independence. To maintain real independence, he didn't make concessions before the 44-Day War. Nikol Pashinyan believes that through difficult times, we've reached a milestone that seemed impossible.

Today, Armenia is more independent, sovereign, established as a state, successful, and full of potential than ever before because it is peaceful. Peace has been established and needs constant attention and care; it needs to be institutionalized.

The message isn't for Armenia, but for Azerbaijan.

Ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan believes that the Prime Minister's message is intended for Azerbaijan.

The purpose is to that the current government is taking stronger steps than in the past 35 years, aiming for a real Armenia and setting aside its past. The Prime Minister's reference to today's declaration isn't for Armenia, it's mainly for Azerbaijan, Kharatyan told Azatutyun.

According to the ethnographer, Pashinyan wants to appease Baku, but Baku isn't showing similar signs. Kharatyan mentioned that Aliyev recently spoke about hooliganism and humanitarianism in Karvachar. - What does the Karabakh Movement mean? For example, are the refugees from September '23 and the whole refugee process the Karabakh Movement or not? I'm using a neutral example. Today, when Azerbaijan talks about refugees from Armenia, is that the Karabakh Movement or not?

The ethnographer wants to know what the Prime Minister means by the Karabakh Movement and what he won't continue. Kharatyan suspects that the words Karabakh and Artsakh shouldn't be said at all.

Kharatyan doesn't think that Armenia is more sovereign. - If we were sovereign, we wouldn't rush to solve our problems in foreign capitals like Washington, Moscow, and Paris. Of course not.

She insists that peace hasn't been established. - Is it peaceful today? Today, we're constantly in a precarious situation, and that peace is connected to countless problems that both depend on us and don't. Besides, it's not peaceful within our country.

The text ends with a congratulation.

35 years ago, the Supreme Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of Armenia, renaming the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic as the Republic of Armenia.

Nikol Pashinyan doesn't offer in his message for the anniversary of the Declaration. However, the text concludes with a congratulation. - August 2025 marked the start of a peaceful and life for Armenia, the Prime Minister concludes, congratulating everyone.