News - Armenia's Pashinyan: ‘Self-determination’ and ‘status’ concepts meant that Karabakh shall be part of Azerbaijan

The concept of “self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh” was misunderstood, the concept of “status of Nagorno-Karabakh” was misunderstood in the Armenian scene, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in the National Assembly of Armenia Thursday. He read the acting chairman’s statement based on the results of the 1996 OSCE Summit in Lisbon. "No progress has been made to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the issue of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The three principles that should become part of the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were proposed by the co-chairs of the [OSCE] Minsk Group. Those principles are: territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan, legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh reflected in agreement based on self-determination, which will grant Nagorno-Karabakh the highest degree of self-government within Azerbaijan. Ensuring the security of Nagorno-Karabakh and its entire population, including a mutual commitment by the parties to guarantee compliance with the settlement principles. I am sorry that one of the participating states, Armenia, could not accept this." Then Pashinyan continued: "Either one or the other meant that Nagorno-Karabakh should be part of Azerbaijan. But in the Armenian scene, all this was misunderstood because the Armenian public did not have access to the Lisbon document since 1996, there was no Internet in 1996." According to Pashinyan, the clerical-feudal elite of Armenia deceived and misled the people of the country in order to seize and hold the power. "This is the whole truth about Nagorno-Karabakh," he added.