Pashinyan says he requested Genocide Museum head's resignation over Artsakh book gift to Vance

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday he personally asked the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute to resign after she presented a book on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to visiting U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, calling the gesture a “provocative act” that contradicted government policy.

“I requested that the director submit resignation,” Pashinyan told reporters at a briefing. He said the gift and remarks about Nagorno-Karabakh ran counter to Armenia’s foreign policy line. “When the prime minister says there is no Karabakh movement, what does it mean to give a foreign guest a book on the ‘Artsakh issue’? How many people can conduct foreign policy in this country?” he said.

Pashinyan stressed that foreign policy is determined solely by the government. “This is a state with its governance logic and system. The government decides foreign policy. I am the head of government, so yes, it is me,” he added.

The museum’s press office confirmed on Wednesday that director Edita Gzoyan had submitted resignation, though no formal legal act has yet been issued.