A delegation of Artsakh leaders headed by the country’s president has been languishing in Yerevan for two days eager to meet with Armenia’s top brass to discuss the latest developments in the region, but more important, the fate of Artsakh.
After the two days Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan behind closed doors in what the prime minister’s office called a routine meeting. No mention of the meeting was made on the prime minister’s website, nor were there any details of the discussion. A photo from the meeting was posted on social media by Pashinyan loyalists serving in parliament.
In an announcement issued last week after Pashinyan met with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan in Prague the two leaders agreed to respect each other’s territorial integrity. Not a word about Artsakh. The meeting was initiated by the presidents of France and the European Union, mEmmanuel Macron and Charles Michel.
The absence of any mention of Artsakh in the statement prompted Harutyunyan to travel to Armenia along with other members of his government in what would indeed have been a regular meeting of the two countries.
After finally meeting with the Artsakh president, Pashinyan’s office issued a statement saying that the details of such talks were customarily not publicized and that the discussions were along the lines of other meetings he had held with Harutyunyan. Pashinyan only met with Harutyunyan with other members of his delegation sidelined.
This statement led to speculation on whether Pashinyan was being asked by another party to refrain from meeting with the Artskh president.
“This suggests that Nikol Pashinian has some international obligations not to receive Artsakh’s leaders,” Armen Baghdasarian, a Yerevan-based veteran political commentator told Azatutyun.am on Wednesday.
