Declaration of Independence is a Declaration of conflict: Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the issues of peace and war during a Facebook live broadcast, stating that the public must make a clear choice on whether to continue or end the Karabakh movement.

According to Pashinyan, “words have value and consequences; words are actions or plans for action,” and the use of terms such as the Republic of Artsakh or the “Artsakh issue” inevitably leads to certain developments.

“There is simply no way that the use of these expressions will not lead to conflict at some point. I am not saying tomorrow or Monday, but at some point it will lead to conflict,” he said.

Pashinyan noted that the political field is essentially divided between a “peace party” and a “war party,” emphasizing that “if we continue the Karabakh movement, it means a new war – it cannot be otherwise.”

According to him, the public should make its choice in the upcoming elections. “The people must decide whether they want to continue the Karabakh movement or not,” he said.

Pashinyan also stated that the Civil Contract party supports adopting a new constitution without a reference to the Armenian Declaration of Independence.

“The Civil Contract party is the only force that says there should be no reference to the Declaration of Independence in the new Constitution. Why? Because the text of the Declaration of Independence is not merely a declaration of independence – it is a declaration of conflict. I say this clearly as Prime Minister and as Chairman of the Party Board: we should not continue along that path,” Pashinyan said.