Samvel Babayan criticizes Pashinyan over Karabakh remarks, says issue remains unresolved

Samvel Babayan, a former secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Security Council, on Monday accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of misrepresenting the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and fueling internal divisions, saying neither Yerevan nor Baku has the authority to declare the issue closed.

In a lengthy statement responding to comments Pashinyan made in Germany, Babayan rejected the prime minister’s assertion that those who say the Nagorno-Karabakh issue remains unresolved are seeking a new war.

“The issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh people is resolved. This is a fact, not a slogan,” Babayan said. “Telling the truth is not a call for war.”

Babayan argued that raising unresolved problems does not create conflict, but that ignoring them increases the risk of future instability. “War is born of bypassed problems,” he said, adding that presenting defeat as “peace” for political expediency only deepens tensions.

He also criticized Pashinyan’s conflation of the displaced Artsakh people’s right to return to their homeland with the Karabakh movement, calling it a manipulation of public opinion.

Babayan accused the government of fostering social hostility by linking Armenia’s economic difficulties and public debt to displaced Karabakh Armenians.

He further called on the government to disclose how much international funding it has received for supporting displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh, how the money has been spent and why Karabakh officials have been excluded from managing those funds.

Reviewing what he described as inconsistencies in Pashinyan’s policy, Babayan said the prime minister had moved from declaring “Artsakh is Armenia” to stating he had no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the Karabakh Armenians and later narrowing Armenia’s role to guaranteeing only their social security.

“You let the war run its course. You lost. You surrendered,” Babayan said, accusing the government of abandoning its responsibilities toward the Nagorno-Karabakh defense forces and people.

According to Babayan, the result was that an entire population was left “without a state, status and future,” forcing them into displacement, where they now face inadequate housing, employment and integration support.

“It’s not for you to decide whether the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is closed or open. [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev cannot decide it either,” Babayan said. “This is a geopolitical process that is larger than both of you.”

He said Pashinyan had no mandate to speak on behalf of the self-determined people of Nagorno-Karabakh or to close the issue “to suit anyone’s political convenience”, stressing that their rights are “natural rights” that cannot be bargained away or silenced.

“Speaking the truth is not a call for war,” Babayan said. “It is a refusal to reconcile with defeat. And no matter how much you try to suppress it, it will return as a question, demand and responsibility.”