Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared on Monday that peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan began the moment his government adopted a “balanced and conciliatory foreign policy.”
He made these remarks in a video message shared on social media, presenting the electoral program of the Civil Contract party for the upcoming elections.
The Prime Minister first read the provision in the electoral program regarding a balanced and moderate foreign policy.
A balanced and harmonized foreign policy has proven its effectiveness, contributing to stabilizing Armenia’s external environment. This approach will be adopted as a strategy, with the main goal being to prevent imbalances in external relations or to have tools to compensate for them.
Regionalization plays a central role in this policy, with the main objective of allowing Armenia to live fully and peacefully in its environment, without external support. In this regard, the development of relations with Georgia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan is of great importance, and the party intends to continue in this direction.
In this context, the complete unblocking of transport infrastructures in the region – including the implementation of the TRIPP project and the launch of the Gyumri-Kars railway line – will not only strengthen peace and cooperation in the region but also make it a hub of East-West and North-South connectivity, a peace crossroads.
We also attach great importance to the development of the 3+3 format as a concrete tool for promoting regionalization, and Armenia will contribute to it. The involvement of Russia in this format is also essential for the constructive transformation of Armenian-Russian relations.
Armenia has also adopted the concept of “Regionalization-2,” encompassing Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries, as well as India. Along with developing relations with other countries in the past period, establishing diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is an important step. This orientation is expected to accelerate between 2026 and 2031.
During the past period, Armenia has established strategic partnerships, dialogues, and action programs with the United States, Georgia, the Netherlands, China, the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, the European Union, Germany, and Luxembourg. Meanwhile, relations with Russia are undergoing a phase of constructive transformation. Armenia will continue to develop mutually beneficial and constructive relations with Russia.
The Prime Minister then recalled that until recently, Armenia did not have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
“We have established diplomatic relations with these countries, and consequently, this provision in the electoral program primarily demonstrates the effectiveness of a balanced and conciliatory foreign policy. It is also worth noting that, in general, the peace process began the moment we adopted the concept of a balanced and conciliatory foreign policy when we started to consider our situation, our region, and the world from a different perspective. This new perspective has borne fruit,” stated the Armenian Prime Minister.
He dismissed accusations from some representatives of the Armenian political opposition claiming that the current government – and himself – were allegedly “pro-Azerbaijani or pro-Turkish,” and explained the origin of these allegations.
But what really happened and what is still happening? In reality, here’s what happened: in our relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey, we almost always acted through third parties – that is, 90% or more of our messages and files were communicated through intermediaries. And what did we observe? A very simple thing, based on both objective and subjective criteria: when communicating with someone through a third party, we can never be sure that our messages are accurately conveyed to the recipient, nor that theirs are accurately relayed back to us. A third party may have its own perceptions, interests, and interpretations, and we can never fully know them.
This is also one of the reasons why peace was not established in our region for many years. We changed our approach. We asserted: if we have things to discuss with Turkey and Azerbaijan – and it is clearly the case – why not speak directly to them? This is the only guarantee that we can be sure our message has been properly conveyed and that we receive a fair response. Whether that response is good or bad is another question; the essential thing is to avoid any distortion in communication. And I want to assure you that such distortions always occur when communication goes through third parties – sometimes deliberately, sometimes inadvertently.
There are nuances and subtleties, including mental and perceptual aspects related to the region, that distant countries may struggle to grasp. In conflicts that have lasted for decades, or even centuries, every nuance can be crucial. We have established peace precisely by understanding that messages relayed through intermediaries are not always received as intended, on both sides.
This change in approach leads to some of the accusations – or exploitation of them – to accuse us, or me, of being pro-Turkish or pro-Azerbaijani. For decades, our practice was as follows: if we had something to say to Turkey or Azerbaijan, who should we address to get our message across? We chose, and will continue to choose, direct communication, without excluding the participation of third parties. There are cases where the involvement of third parties is necessary, even essential, as they involve broader issues. But in bilateral relations, we must maintain active communication. It is through this understanding that we are experiencing peace today,” emphasized the Armenian Prime Minister.
