Narek Karapetian, a senior figure in the party led by Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday that the current situation “does not offer such opportunities.”
Instead, he said, the party’s immediate priorities are focused on addressing the needs of people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, particularly housing.
“We will present to our society what problem we see at the moment and what solutions we see,” Karapetian said. “The primary thing we see is the issue of providing housing for our compatriots in Armenia… People who have fought for Armenia for so many years today face a problem with housing.”
On the question of the return of ethnic Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh, Karapetian stressed that security guarantees are essential. He noted that none of the Armenians who remained in the region after its capture by Azerbaijan a few years ago are still there.
“If they [Azerbaijan] could not find common ground with just a dozen Armenians there, we do not see guarantees that our other compatriots would be safe there,” Karapetian said. “The right to return to the homeland is a fundamental international right, which we are going to pursue. But guarantees are also important.”
Karapetian declined to comment on how the party would handle an initialed peace agreement with Azerbaijan or the implementation of TRIPP, a regional connectivity project backed by the United States, saying those issues would be addressed in the coming months.
The party’s security platform contrasts with that of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government. Unlike the government, which has reduced the military budget this year, “Strong Armenia” has pledged to increase defense spending. It has also promised to secure the return of Armenian detainees held in Azerbaijan and to establish “reliable air defense systems.”
Pashinian and his party condition national security primarily on the international legitimacy of borders in addition to military strength and present themselves as the only political force in Armenia capable of achieving lasting peace with Azerbaijan following more than three decades of conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
After Azerbaijan’s 2023 military takeover of the region, which led to the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to Armenia, the Armenian government has taken a cautious approach to advocating for their return. Pashinian has also warned that Baku’s demands for the return of ethnic Azerbaijanis who left Armenia at the start of the conflict in the late 1980s could pose risks to the fragile peace process.