Former Armenian FM accuses  Pashinyan of legitimizing Azerbaijan`s  new encroachments on Armenia`s sovereign territory

ArmInfo.  Former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian responded to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's remarks about completely closing the  Artsakh issue in exchange for Azerbaijan's refusal to promote the  so-called "Western Azerbaijan" narrative.

"Nikol Pashinyan made a sensational statement today that threatens  Armenia's state interests and the future of the Armenian people. Just  as the statement 'Artsakh is Armenia, that's it' in 2019 laid the  groundwork for a devastating war,  his statement today could in the  future serve as the basis for legitimizing new attacks on Armenia's  sovereign territory," the diplomat noted in a post on his Facebook  page.

"It's simply unbelievable what Pashinyan is 'offering' to the  Azerbaijanis: he's urging them to stop calling Armenian territory  'Western Azerbaijan' and to settle Azerbaijanis there, promising in  return that the Armenian side will also resolve the issue of the  'return of Karabakh Armenians.' One doesn't need a diplomatic  education to understand that there are no parallels between these two  topics, neither in terms of international law, nor in terms of  international perception, nor in terms of simple logic," Oskanian  added.  According to him, there are dozens of international  conventions and provisions of international law that grant the right  of peoples who enjoyed autonomy even during the Soviet era to return  to their places of residence from where they were forcibly expelled.

"The return, at a minimum. Any degree of autonomy, at a minimum.  Dozens of international platforms, agreements, conventions, and  precedents grant the Armenian people the right not only to return to  a previously autonomous entity populated predominantly by Armenians,  but also to discuss the status of this entity within the framework of  international law, right down to the issue of sovereignty.

By equating these topics, Pashinyan has achieved only one  "achievement" today: he has paved the way for Azerbaijan to bring to  the forefront the issue of its encroachments on Armenia, which lack  legitimacy under international law," Oskanian concluded.