Armenian opposition figure accuses Pashinyan of deception

Levon Zurabyan, deputy chairman of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and the party’s candidate for prime minister, has accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of deceiving the public with repeated promises of peace that, he argues, have instead led to war, defeat and national humiliation.

In a video posted on social media on Thursday, Zurabyan charged that Pashinyan reneged on his 2018 campaign pledge to strengthen the ceasefire and pursue negotiations, claiming that in 2019 he rejected a settlement proposal from the OSCE Minsk Group that could have averted conflict. He further started that Pashinyan’s recognition of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) as part of Azerbaijan undermined Armenia’s historic claims and precipitated the destruction of its ancestral homeland.

“I accuse Nikol Pashinyan of being nothing more than a political fraudster, who has promised peace but delivered only war, loss and humiliation,” Zurabyan said, adding that Pashinyan’s current campaign represents “the same deception for the third time.”