Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, the prime ministerial candidate of the Hayastan Alliance, has said that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is “copying” former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili by pursuing policies that provoke problems with Russia.
Speaking on Armenia’s Public Television, Kocharyan said he completely rejects such an approach.
“This is a policy that I simply reject. My model of policy is this: do not get drawn into clashes between major powers, try to find areas of cooperation with those countries where cooperation is possible, and do not play on their disagreements,” he said.
Kocharyan added that he sees the same behavior in the prime minister’s domestic policies. While such an approach may not create serious problems internally, he argued that it is extremely dangerous in foreign relations, with the public ultimately paying the price for the consequences.
“I did not invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who made harsh statements against Russia from Armenian territory. What required such urgency in signing a strategic partnership agreement with Lithuania, a country that had declared it was in conflict with Russia and said Kaliningrad should be seized?” he said.
Responding to questions about why the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) did not respond to Armenia’s requests after the 44-day war, Kocharyan stated that nearly all CSTO member states maintain closer relations with Azerbaijan than with Armenia. In his view, the organization would not have adopted such a decision, while Russia would have been left isolated in such a vote.
Asked about the possibility of bilateral assistance from Russia, Kocharyan said that, to the best of his knowledge, the relevant procedures had not been utilized.
“I would have solved that issue with one phone call,” he added.
He also stated that such a war simply would not have occurred during his time in office.
Kocharyan reiterated his position that Pashinyan’s statements and actions made war inevitable, undermined the negotiation process and legitimized an attack for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev through territorial claims, including the statement that “Artsakh is Armenia. That’s all.”
“I never made such statements. Negotiations were taking place around self-determination. There were no territorial claims. On the contrary, at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I said that I recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity has nothing to do with Karabakh, because at that time a process of self-determination was underway. Territorial integrity is a principle that is important for Armenia as well, because it also has its own territory,” Kocharyan stressed.
The election campaign that began on May 8 will continue until June 5. June 6 will be a day of silence, while voting will take place on June 7. On May 25, it became known that the Alliance Progressive Centrist Party had submitted a withdrawal request, after which the Central Electoral Commission annulled the registration of the party’s electoral list. As a result, ballot paper number 13 will not appear in the upcoming elections.
