U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton (left) meets Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on Oct. 25, 2018
YEREVAN—Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said there will not be a resolution to the Karabakh conflict if it is not acceptable to the people of Armenia and Artsakh and its government.
Pashinyan was responding to a statement made by U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton who, while visiting Yerevan last week, said that Pashinyan’s victory in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections would be a good opportunity for the government to take “decisive action” toward a resolution of the Karabakh conflict.
“You know, everyone speaks on their own behalf. John Bolton speaks for himself,” Pashinyan told reporters Saturday outside of a ceremony marking the 19th anniversary of the terrorist attack on Armenia’s parliament.
“John Bolton, or anyone for that matter, cannot speak on my behalf. Let me say, that there cannot be a resolution [of the Karabakh conflict] if it is not acceptable to the people of Armenia, Artsakh and the government of Artsakh,” emphasized Pashinyan.
“In terms of a universal resolution of the issue, it is clear that any solution should also be acceptable for the people of Azerbaijan,” said Pashinyan who stressed the need for transparency in the process.
“People are still driven by old habits; as in the times when they used to make decisions behind closed doors and advance things behind the people’s backs.We don’t prescribe to this approach, because, I don’t know how they did it in the past, but I don’t think that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved by any one person, or any government or by me or a prime minister,” said Pashinyan.
“The ones who determine whether to resolve or not resolve the Karabakh conflict are the Armenian people, and specifically the people of Armenia, the people of Artsakh and in this case also the Diaspora, because this is a Pan-Armenian issue,” said Pashinyan.
“They are moving forward with the logic that they have some kind of ownership of the Karabakh issue, and now they are attempting to sell it to me, without asking my opinion,” emphasized Pashinyan in an apparent reference to Bolton and other forces attempting to secure concessions from him. “The Armenian people will resolve the conflict.”