They reacted to Western media reports that he will pledge to let the United States control the movement of people and cargo through the Syunik province during talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Washington on Friday.
“It doesn’t matter how they are ‘packaging’ the deal,” said Tigran Abrahamian, a senior lawmaker from the opposition Pativ Unem. “It doesn’t matter that the U.S. president and other world leaders will welcome and praise the Armenian authorities. The key thing is what each side will achieve.”
Unlike the United States and especially Azerbaijan, Armenia will get no tangible benefits from the transit corridor, claimed Abrahamian. He said it is not even clear whether Armenia will be able to use Azerbaijani territory for its own cargo shipments.
“Azerbaijan will get Armenia’s consent [for the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group] and unfettered communication [with Nakhichevan] which will not be controlled by the Armenian side. Armenia will not get anything,” agreed Artur Khachatrian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).
“Instead, Pashinian will get a piece of paper which will carry the word ‘peace’ and Aliyev’s signature, and he will brandish that paper to the public and say, ‘See, I’ve brought peace,”’ Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “But it will not bring peace, resolve any vital issue or neutralize any of the risks hanging over Armenia.”
“Like I’ve said, Pashinian’s interests are incompatible with Armenia’s interests but fully match Azerbaijan’s interests. Therefore, Pashinian’s removal [from power] is of vital importance to Armenia and the Armenian people as a whole.”
Pashinian last month confirmed the transit arrangement proposed by the United States and signaled readiness to accept it. He said the “outsourcing” of the Syunik corridor would not undermine Armenia’s territorial integrity or sovereignty. Opposition dismissed his assurances.
“Nikol Pashinian is going to give Azerbaijan a corridor. Armenia’s sovereignty over that corridor will be limited,” insisted Khachatrian, whose party is a key component of the main opposition Hayastan alliance.
A Dashnaktsutyun leader, Ishkhan Saghatelian, said on July 17 that the party will strive to thwart the unconventional arrangement “together with our people.” Saghatelian again warned of street protests earlier on Thursday.
“In order to implement the agreements reached, the regime is forced to expand the wave of repressions, increasing the number of political prisoners in the country,” he wrote on Facebook. “Therefore, those external forces that hope for Pashinian's endless concession tactics should know well that it is impossible to curb the wave of public discontent in the long term through endless repressions.”