Former PM: Artsakh issue remains unresolved

The Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) issue remains unresolved, former Armenian Prime Minister Khosrov Harutyunyan has stated.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a rally in Yerevan’s Liberty Square on Saturday, he criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent remarks that the "Karabakh movement should not continue", arguing that the statement reflects Pashinyan’s ultimate view of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a mere territorial dispute between two countries.

According to him, if the Artsakh issue is viewed as a matter of a people's right to self-determination, it cannot simply be closed as it would amount to rejection of the UN Charter.

"The Artsakh issue remains unresolved. It cannot be considered settled through brutal, genocidal actions. There is no alternative to a peaceful negotiation process and the OSCE Minsk Group cannot be dissolved,” the former PM stressed.

"The chapter of the Artsakh movement cannot be closed. It was a movement with legal standing, whose goal was not for Armenia to seize control over the territory of Artsakh, but to ensure the right to self-determination for the Artsakh people," Harutyunyan added.