There’s a simple explanation for why I say that Ktrich Nersisyan and his group have taken over the leadership of the military party. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during a briefing with journalists.
“I attend services and see that during services they deviate from the text and mention the Republic of Artsakh, etc., etc. Very well, we understand that if we all mention the Republic of Artsakh, it will mean conflict. Every such sentence is a call for war,” he said.
Pashinyan stepped forward and noted that journalists would remind him that he himself once said, “Artsakh is Armenia, period,” and then added, “There is a passage in the Bible, I won’t quote it verbatim: ‘We mourned, but you did not rejoice; “We played music, but you didn’t dance…” When the time came to fight, everyone was focused on changing the government in Yerevan, wanting to withdraw troops so they could come and stage a coup in Yerevan. It’s all over; there’s no Karabakh movement. And every time, from the pulpit, from every platform, they say: the Republic of Artsakh is a step towards war. Azerbaijan, too, is developing its own discourse on this matter. They say: return, what return? There’s the topic of the return of refugees, and Azerbaijan, too, is talking about its return.” Pashinyan also noted that it all “started with innocent humanitarian issues: a stone, a monument…”