Pashinyan: Armenia was supposed to be a banana state, there was no peace from the first day of independence

There has been no peace in Armenia since the first day of independence, stated Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the eve of the start of the election campaign for the 'Civil Contract' party.

Commenting on claims that there was peace in Armenia before the current government came to power in 2018, and that the current government’s actions brought war, Pashinyan said: 'We had war because every year we had casualties and wounded. Where have you seen peace when soldiers are dying and getting injured? We had no peace; we had constant war and constant delays in the start of war, and the deadline for this delay was announced with the April War of 2016.'

'But it is also very important that the April War was preceded by a completely new package of proposals for the settlement of the Karabakh issue, which is already known to all of us and has been published,' noted the Prime Minister of Armenia.

According to him, the framework for the settlement of the Karabakh issue was outlined as early as the Lisbon Summit in 1996, 'the Karabakh issue had already been resolved by that time': 'All these delays and postponements were, first of all, aimed at resolving the issue of Armenia, that is, at preventing the creation of an Armenian state.'

'And this is exactly what we understood, and understood very quickly, that Armenia had fallen into a trap, and our task was to pull Armenia out of this trap. At the cost of our casualties and losses, we pulled Armenia out of this trap, and that is the most important thing. Those who say that the casualties were in vain do not understand that Armenian statehood has broken free from the trap,' said Pashinyan.

According to him, the scenario they faced in 2018 was that the Republic of Armenia was not supposed to be a sovereign state; at best, it was supposed to be a banana state that would receive permission from various places to breathe.

'Now is the time to protect our current Armenia,' said Pashinyan.

Source: 'Armenpress'