At a press conference yesterday, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, issued a statement in which he confirmed his readiness to recognise the territory of the Republic of Artsakh as part of the Republic of Azerbaijan, causing great outrage and anger in Artsakh, Armenia and the Armenian diaspora around the world.

His statement is a blatant violation of the provisions of the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Armenia and the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia with regard to Artsakh. In particular, it breaches the decision of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia of 8 July 1992, which specifies that “it is unacceptable for the Republic of Armenia to consider any international or interstate document which refers to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as part of Azerbaijan”.

We reiterate that the status of Artsakh was determined by the Artsakh people’s declaration of 10 December 1992, and no power has the right to repeal it.

We condemn and consider unacceptable any statement by Nikol Pashinyan or the Pashinyan administration ignoring or undermining the sovereignty of the Republic of Artsakh and its people’s right to self-determination according to international law, as well as any document drafted on that basis.

Any control exerted by the authoritarian and systemically racist Azerbaijani regime over the native Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh will inevitably result in ethnic cleansing, a second Armenian Genocide, and the cultural and physical destruction of a region which has been home to Armenians for millennia, in a manner Armenians have seen far too many times before.

Artsakh and its people have the right to life, security, and independence. Their desire to live independently and with enjoyment of human and political rights which would otherwise be entirely stripped from them must be respected.