The Armenian opposition accused PM Nikol Pashinyan of taking steps to restore Azerbaijan’s control over Nagorno-Karabakh during his recent four-hour talks with Azerbaijani President hosted by European Union head Charles Michel in Brussels. 

“The leaders confirmed their unequivocal commitment to the 1991 Almaty Declaration and respective territorial integrity of Armenia (29,800 square kilometers) and Azerbaijan (89,600 square kilometers),” Michel said after the meeting.

This statement generated anger and strong reactions among some experts and opposition circles in Armenia.

According to Tigran Abrahamyan, an Armenian legislator from the opposition ‘Pativ Unem’ alliance, this aligns with Pashinyan’s previous statements on the Karabakh conflict made throughout the past year.

“Charles Michel’s remarks only indicate the current agenda and the held talks. Meanwhile, the Armenian authorities, at least, have not stated otherwise,” Abrahamyan wrote on Facebook.

He stressed that neither the Karabakh president nor any Karabakh officials who held a rally in Stepanakert on Monday refrained from criticizing Pashinyan’s “disgraceful policy of surrendering Karabakh to Azerbaijan.”

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a key member of the main opposition ‘Hayastan’ bloc, raised serious concerns regarding Michel’s statement. 

It particularly noted: “The statement failed to acknowledge that the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan does not include Nagorno-Karabakh. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia gained independence from the USSR following established legal procedures. Moreover, Azerbaijan declared its independence during the period of 1918-1920, based on the succession of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, in which Nagorno Karabakh was not a part.

In their official statement, the party’s leadership heavily criticized Pashinyan for aiding Baku in reclaiming complete control over Karabakh and displacing its residents from their homeland. 

President of the Regional Center for Democracy and Security Tigran Grigoryan outlined that the commitment to recognize the territorial integrity of each other was already agreed upon in Prague last year, and this is not a new agreement. The expert highlights the positive agenda and emphasizes that the significant aspect of Michel’s statement is the opening of railway connections based on the principles of reciprocity and sovereignty.