Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday accused the main opposition forces of “cynical lies” and branded them as ‘war parties’.
In a video posted on social media, Pashinyan dismissed the claims of former President Robert Kocharyan, Strong Armenia party leader, tycoon Samvel Karapetyan, and business magnate and Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan that Armenia had peace even before Pashinyan took power in 2018, and before the initialing of the August 8 peace deal.
Pashinyan said that, since August 8, 2025, Armenia has, for the first time since gaining independence, achieved de jure peace with Azerbaijan.
“The tripartite war party of Kocharyan-Karapetyan-Tsarukyan is trying to convince people that before 2024–2025, and even before 2018, we had peace.
Of course, this claim is a cynical lie, even considering the simple fact that since independence—and even after the 1994 ceasefire—we have had casualties and injuries every year as a result of exchanges of fire with Azerbaijan. Moreover, the casualties number in the hundreds, and the number of wounded is significantly higher. Perhaps this is their notion of peace: that we continue to have casualties every year. Our understanding, on the other hand, is the opposite: peace means the absence of deaths and injuries; peace means the complete absence of any tension.
In the preceding period, one could say we had daily exchanges of fire, with periodic sniper battles and minor sniper conflicts. But it is also very important to note what this situation meant in relation to a major war and what it implied. What I mean is that in the preceding period we never truly had peace; rather, we had a postponement of war,” Pashinyan elaborated.
He added that it is also important to note how and at what cost the postponement of war occurred.
“That, in essence, also came at a cost, which we have paid. And for the postponement of war, we have paid with Armenia’s independence, sovereignty, statehood, the well-being of its citizens, and economic development. It should also be noted that this ‘payment method’ had already been exhausted by 2016, when the four-day war occurred. Not only did the four-day war take place, but an entirely different logic was placed on the negotiating table, which completely undermined all Armenian conceptions regarding the resolution of the Karabakh issue.
Those who attempt to dispute this claim, I will refer to the already published and widely known letter of Serzh Sargsyan from August 2016,” said the Prime Minister.
According to Pashinyan, his statement that there was never peace in the previous period, whereas peace is now established, is justified by the fact that 2025 is the first calendar year in which Armenia has had no casualties or injuries as a result of exchanges of fire with Azerbaijan.
“In practice, we have not had any casualties or injuries since February 2024. In other words, the last such incident occurred at the beginning of 2024,” he noted.
The Prime Minister of Armenia emphasized that the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not yet signed, but only initialed, yet he added that the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan already has de jure recognition.
“The de jure confirmation in 2024 is the adoption of the regulation on joint activities of the border delimitation commissions of the two countries, which, once adopted, was ratified through the respective procedures in both countries, thereby acquiring the highest legal force. It is in this document that the Alma-Ata Declaration is recorded as the fundamental principle for border delimitation between the two countries. And this has de jure supreme significance in both countries.
This means that Armenia and Azerbaijan have mutually recognized, through a de jure legally binding document, that independent Armenia is identical in its territory to Soviet Armenia, and independent Azerbaijan is identical in its territory to Soviet Azerbaijan. This is the foundation of peace, and it carries the highest legal force in both countries.
Deviating from this logic—the direction in which the tripartite war party of Kocharyan-Karapetyan-Tsarukyan is taking – unequivocally and indisputably means war, with all its consequences,” emphasized Nikol Pashinyan.
According to Pashinyan, his administration has achieved not merely a postponement of war, but peace—at the cost of many casualties and sacrifices.
“Our respect goes to all our fallen brothers… we have achieved peace, and a free, democratic, developing, prosperous, and sovereign Armenia is the highest way to honor their memory. We cannot give a greater recognition to their sacrifices. Thus, peace today is already de jure established, and the citizens of the Republic of Armenia must uphold the peace, because this is their peace, their created peace, achieved through the efforts of the government they elected. The government has treated the establishment of peace as a priority—remaining faithful to the mandate given by the people in the 2021 snap parliamentary elections, listening to the word of the people, and implementing it.
And now the time has come—the time is June 7, 2026—for the citizens of the Republic of Armenia to uphold their peace. I can sincerely say—I have no doubt—that the citizens of Armenia will uphold peace,” concluded Pashinyan.