MP accuses Pashinyan of attempting to legitimize Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing of Artsakh

ARF Armenia leader and opposition MP Ishkhan Saghatelyan has accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of ongoing attempts to legitimize Azerbaijan’s 2023 ethnic cleansing of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and to “wash the blood off Aliyev's hands”.

“The current leadership was elected in 2021 with a completely different program. They had no mandate to recognize Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan or to surrender Armenian territories,” Saghatelyan told reporters at Yerevan’s Yerablur Military Pantheon on September 19, marking the second anniversary of Azerbaijan’s military takeover of Artsakh.

Saghatelyan criticized the government’s narrative that, despite the loss of Artsakh, casualties and territorial concessions, Armenia has become “more sovereign or independent”.

“The responsibility for the September 19, 2023 depopulation of Artsakh lies entirely with Pashinyan, who has become a tool in the hands of Turkey and Azerbaijan,” he charged. “Through his policies, Pashinyan continues attempts to legitimize Aliyev’s actions and to wash the blood off his hands."

Saghatelyan further demanded that the prime minister disclose details of his discussions with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prior to the Azerbaijani offensive, expressing confidence that Pashinyan had assured Erdogan Armenia would not intervene in the event of an attack.