Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan delivered a speech at the plenary session of the European Parliament.
The speech, provided by the Prime Minister’s Office, is presented below:
”Madam President of the European Parliament, distinguished Members of the European Parliament,
It is an honor for me to tell you that since my last speech from this rostrum, which was on October 17, 2023, changes have taken place in Armenia and in the South Caucasus in general that are of century-long, if not millennia-long significance.
And only two years and five months have passed since my last speech.
The most remarkable change is the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which was recorded on August 8, 2025, in the US capital, Washington, when the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and I signed a joint Declaration at the White House, by which we essentially established peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Declaration was also signed by US President Donald Trump as a witness.
Before that, the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan had initialed the “Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan” in the presence of the US President, the President of Azerbaijan and myself.
The Washington Declaration also resolved the very important and sensitive issue of unblocking regional communications.
In paragraph 3 of the Declaration, it is stated: (I quote) “We reaffirmed the importance of the opening of communications between the two countries for intra-state, bilateral, and international transportation for the promotion of peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and in its neighborhood on the basis of respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction of the States. These efforts are to include unimpeded connectivity between the main part of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of the Republic of Armenia with reciprocal benefits for international and intra-state connectivity for the Republic of Armenia.” (end of quote).And already in point 4 of the Declaration it is stated (I quote): “The Republic of Armenia will work with the United States of America and mutually determined third parties, to set forth a framework for the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) connectivity project in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. We confirm our determination to pursue efforts in good faith to achieve this goal in the most expeditious manner.” (end of quote).
The TRIPP program is currently in the crystallization stage. On January 13, the governments of the United States and Armenia adopted the framework for the implementation of the TRIPP, in the near future a corresponding agreement will be signed between Armenia and the United States and the practical implementation of the project will be launched.
This program, which stems from the “Crossroads of Peace” project of the Government of Armenia, will create new transport opportunities for communication from east to west and vice versa, from south to north and vice versa, which is also an epoch-making change. It is important to emphasize that I first spoke about the “Crossroads of Peace” project on October 17, 2023, from this rostrum of the European Parliament, and the developments described above open up new opportunities for the European Union and Armenia in terms of deepening and concretizing cooperation in the field of transport communications.
Madam President of the European Parliament, distinguished Members of the European Parliament,
The positive picture I have presented is certainly overshadowed by the events taking place right next door, in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in a number of Middle Eastern countries. Iran is our good friend, our thousand-year-old neighbor. You already saw the extent of our relations with the United States. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Syria are our good partners. We have recently taken a historic step with Saudi Arabia, establishing diplomatic relations. We are pained by what is happening in the Middle East. Against the backdrop of such an international crisis of such magnitude, we are a small, modest state, and we can only pray for the repose of the souls of all the victims and for the wisdom of our partner leaders to find diplomatic solutions as soon as possible.
Distinguished Members of the European Parliament, Madam President of the European Parliament,
For 8 months now, complete peace has been established on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. 2025 has become the first calendar year since our independence, that is, since 1991, when there were no casualties or injuries as a result of Armenia-Azerbaijani shooting. For months now, residents of the border settlement have not heard the sounds of gunfire.
Moreover, for the first time since independence, in November 2025, a train arrived in the Republic of Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan, also passing through Georgia. This happened after the President of Azerbaijan announced in October 2025 that he was lifting the restriction on rail transportation through the territory of Azerbaijan to Armenia, and I am grateful to the President of Azerbaijan for such a decision.
We, in turn, have announced that we are ready to ensure transit from Azerbaijan to Türkiye and vice versa right now, because we can do this using our existing roads at the moment. Neither Azerbaijan nor Türkiye have taken advantage of this opportunity yet.
I assume that this is because they think that such a solution might delay the implementation of the TRIPP project. From this rostrum, I officially declare that Armenia has not only no intention, but also no reason to delay the implementation of the TRIPP project, because the project fully meets the short-term, medium-term and long-term interests of the Republic of Armenia and, as you saw from the above-mentioned quote, does not in any way undermine the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or jurisdiction of the Republic of Armenia.Now I also want to say that the Republic of Armenia is ready to provide a road connection between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic via the Kornidzor-Goris-Yeghegnadzor-Yeraskh route using the existing infrastructure.
This proposal of ours is not intended to delay, disrupt, or forget the Washington agreements in any way, and I say this officially. We are making these proposals because we ourselves, as I mentioned above, are using the Azerbaijani railway in a slightly alternative way. Just as Azerbaijan is waiting for the establishment of a connection through the territory of Armenia to Nakhchivan, so we are waiting for the establishment of a railway connection between the south and north of Armenia through the territory of Nakhchivan. This railway route has no alternative for Armenia, the mountainous terrain of Armenia does not allow for a railway connection between the south and north of the country in any other way. As you can see, the expectations of Armenia and Azerbaijan do not contradict each other.
We are also going to use the Georgia-Azerbaijan railway for export. I hope that in the near future Azerbaijan will also become an export destination for Armenia. And Armenia is already importing oil products from Azerbaijan, which has caused a decrease in oil product prices in our market and has broken the monopolies established in the oil product market for decades.
I would also like to thank the Prime Minister of Georgia for supporting the railway communication between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the peace process in general.
Dear attendees,
Especially on international platforms, I am often asked why peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan become possible in 2025, while it was not possible before, what is the reason for this, what changed anyway?
First of all, of course, the personal involvement and initiative of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, was essential and turning point.
The second factor that made peace possible was the realization of the interconnectedness of the last 100 years of history of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 1918, the two countries gained independence on the same day. Two years later, in 1920, they lost their independence with a time lapse of months.
In 1991, Armenia and Azerbaijan gained independence again with a time lapse of months, or one could even say on the same day, when the Alma Ata Declaration recorded the end of the Soviet Union.
The Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes of 1920 were one of the key factors that prevented the two countries from maintaining and developing their independence.
Now, a century later, we live in an equally complex region, and geopolitical floods, like at the beginning of the 20th century, will not spare us now if we do not take care of ourselves, because conflict and enmity are the virus that blinds us, makes our independence and statehood vulnerable, and makes us a tempting target for deadly geopolitical diseases. And so, the realization of the strategic interdependence of our destinies is another essential factor that made peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan possible.
In order not to give room for misinterpretations, I would like to emphasize that this is my personal opinion and in my personal conviction that in March-April 2024 we had reached the brink of Armenia’s statehood and if in April 2024 we had failed to make a decision to launch the process of demarcation with Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia would be a territory under foreign rcontrol at best today.
Moreover, making that decision to demarcate was very difficult. With the encouragement of the de facto chief of our church, one of the archbishops had started a movement in Armenia demanding not only not to carry out the demarcation, but also to essentially activate the Karabakh movement, or rather, the conflict.
Tens of thousands of citizens, succumbing to the disinformation campaign carried out by high-ranking clergymen and their supporting opposition forces, who claimed that the Government was preparing to cede the sovereign territories of Armenia and the ancient churches and settlements located in them to Azerbaijan, took to the streets.
You can imagine what this meant for our Government and political team, which came to power through the people’s, non-violent, velvet revolution of 2018.
And how did we solve the problem?
We talked to our employer, the people. And now, the village of Kirants in Tavush region, which the leaders of the church-opposition movement had made their symbol, convincing people that the village would be emptied and abandoned, has had about a 50 percent increase in houses with the support of the Government after the demarcation and today is an absolutely peaceful, safe and colorful settlement. And the ancient churches are being restored or renovated.
I personally organize visits and tours for groups of citizens to the village of Kirants in Tavush region, to show people what we mean by peace, what I mean by Real Armenia, the symbol of which, the image of the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia, I carry on my chest.
This is also a symbol of peace, because we established peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan by recognizing each other’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence on the basis of the Alma Ata Declaration of December 21, 1991, according to which Soviet Azerbaijan became independent Azerbaijan, Soviet Armenia became independent Armenia, and this is the outline of the map of the territory of independent Armenia.
I would not have touched upon the topic of the involvement of some clergy in this process against peace, if I had not seen how the emissaries of these clergy and representatives of some lobbying organizations affiliated with them are trying to spread in the European Parliament and other authoritative international structures that the Armenian Government is restricting freedom of conscience, that a dictatorship is being established in Armenia, that there are political prisoners in Armenia.
The reality is that some clergymen, who cynically violated all the rules of spiritual good conduct, thus making themselves vulnerable to foreign special services (by the way, the fact that some of them were agents of the USSR KGB is proven by documents), have assumed the leadership of the war party in the Republic of Armenia, consolidating around them the former leaders of Armenia, some forces associated with them, some pro-Russian and pro-Belarusian oligarchs, and are trying to sacrifice Armenia’s independence to the interests of third countries.
We will not allow a new conflict, a new war, we will not allow the consciousness, peace and independence gained at the cost of thousands of victims to be sacrificed for anti-Christian purposes. In the text of our liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, the word peace is mentioned more than 40 times, and it is not only about the person, the soul, but also about world peace, about which there are dozens of supplications in the canonical text of our liturgy, to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and today some are using the altar of Christ to preach conflict, war and/or intra-Armenian violence, trespassing the boundaries of the legislation of the Republic of Armenia. This cannot be tolerated in any democratic country.Honorable President of the European Parliament, distinguished Members of Parliament, dear guests,
One of our important tasks is also to ensure that the emotions of our Karabakh sisters and brothers who have become refugees are not exploited, giving them false hopes.
Our strategy in this regard is very clear: our Karabakh sisters and brothers must receive Armenian citizenship and be permanently settled in the Republic of Armenia. We have already launched their resettlement program, which has benefited 4,886 families so far. We need the greatest possible support from our international partners to solve this problem aimed at strengthening peace.
Dear guests,
We are criticized that the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not perfect. Please tell me, where is the peace perfect, where is there perfect peace and where has it been and when?
And on the contrary, it is the will to care for peace that can make it as close to perfect as possible and this is how we approach all issues, including the issue of our compatriots held in prison in Azerbaijan. Recently, Azerbaijan released four more of our compatriots.
The Armenian society, we all experienced happiness on that occasion. But the Government very quickly returned to continuing its silent diplomatic work, for the sake of the return of others, because I am convinced that if we had not previously chosen the style of silent diplomatic work, the return of our four compatriots on January 14 would simply not have taken place.
Honorable President of the European Parliament, distinguished Members of Parliament, dear guests,
The next incredible change that has taken place in Armenia since my previous speech is that in March 2025, the law “On the Launch of the Process of the Republic of Armenia’s Accession to the European Union” was adopted in our country, which entered into force in April 2025.
This is the political crystallization of the statement I made from this podium on October 17, 2023, that the Republic of Armenia is ready to be closer to the European Union, as much as the European Union deems it possible.
Now, after the adoption of this law, many in Armenia are asking when Armenia will become a member of the European Union. Our answer is very clear: no country can become a member of the EU without meeting the standards of the European Union. Therefore, our task is to continue the path of reforms with the support of our European partners and first objectively meet the criteria for EU membership.
When this happens, there will be two ways: either the EU will accept us as a full member, or it will not. I say this because I understand that EU enlargement, the inclusion of a new member, is not a simple matter, and is also a matter of political decision.
Therefore, if the EU accepts Armenia as a full member, it is very good. If it does not, we will still benefit, because we will be a country that complies with EU standards.
I must say frankly, however, that the biggest problem on the path of Armenia’s integration into the EU at the moment is the frozen state of the political dialogue between the European Union and Georgia. Georgia is a path for us to the European Union, and we adopted the law on the launch of the process of Armenia’s accession to the European Union after Georgia received the status of a candidate for EU membership. This made Armenia’s EU membership prospect tangible, and it is our expectation and request that the European Union-Georgia constructive process should develop. This is important for Armenia, just as important as for Georgia.Honorable President of the European Parliament, distinguished Members of the European Parliament, dear guests,
The people’s non-violent, velvet Revolution that took place in Armenia in 2018 was based on the understandings of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. We kept our democracy viable and developing in conditions of war, but we also understood that it is peace that paves the way for making democracy irreversible. In reality, we have achieved peace thanks to democracy, thanks to our commitment to democratic values, because we were able to overcome the patterns of thinking imposed on Armenia by listening to the people, real, living people who yearn for life and peace.
On June 7, 2026, the next parliamentary elections will be held in the Republic of Armenia, and with these elections, our democracy must make peace irreversible, and then, with peace, democracy will become irreversible. We are going this way, and I say this as a legitimate representative of the people of the Republic of Armenia.
Long live peace, long live democracy.”