Armenian opposition MP says international mediators backed Artsakh's self-determination

Armenian opposition lawmaker Tigran Abrahamyan said international mediators involved in the long-running negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict had supported the Artsakh people's right to self-determination, accusing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government of abandoning that approach and surrendering Artsakh to Azerbaijan.

Abrahamyan's comments came after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that, for many years, negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were based on the transfer of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, along with the Karvachar and Lachin districts, to Armenia. According to Aliyev, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, including the United States, Russia and France, also supported that framework.

Writing on social media on Tuesday, Abrahamyan, a member of the opposition Pativ Unem faction, said the same concept and negotiating positions were reflected in the Karabakh negotiation documents that Pashinyan released last year.

"International actors effectively supported Artsakh's right to self-determination and negotiations proceeded on that basis for many years," Abrahamyan said. "The Pashinyan government rejected that approach and surrendered Artsakh to Azerbaijan."