Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday he had asked the director of Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Edita Gzoyan, to submit her resignation after she presented a book about Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) to U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance during a tour at the Armenian Genocide Memorial.
Speaking at a press briefing in Yerevan, Pashinyan confirmed reports that Gzoyan’s departure was linked to the incident and said the move was necessary because foreign policy is determined solely by the Armenian government.
“When the country’s prime minister says there is no ‘Karabakh movement,’ what does it mean to present a foreign guest with a book about the Artsakh issue?” Pashinyan said.
“In Armenia, foreign policy is conducted by the government,” he added. “Any state official who says or does something that contradicts the government’s foreign policy must leave their position.”
Responding to a question from reporters about whether Gzoyan’s removal was directly connected to the book given to the U.S. vice president, Pashinyan said: “Yes, I asked her to write a resignation letter. I regarded this as an action contradicting the government’s foreign policy and considered it a provocative act.”
The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, located at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan, is Armenia’s leading state research institution dedicated to the study and commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
Nagorno Karabakh, or Artsakh, historically populated by ethnic Armenians, has been the center of decades of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Following a 44-day war in Fall 2020 and occupation of swaths of territory in Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan continued military provocations along the new Line of Contact, and following a 9-month siege of the region (despite presence of Russian peacekeepers), launched a two-day war in September 2023 and took full control of the region, prompting more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to forcefully flee to Armenia.
Pashinyan’s government has since signaled a shift in policy toward recognizing what he labeled as ‘Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity’ as part of efforts to negotiate a peace agreement between the two countries.
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