Speaking during a question-and-answer session in parliament boycotted by the two opposition factions, Pashinian hit back at the claims that he is trying to intimidate the public with the prospect of another war for electoral purposes.
He again criticized opposition platforms, arguing that their pledges to renegotiate an initialed peace deal with Azerbaijan, seek international guarantors, or raise the issue of the return of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh would “open the door” to renewed conflict with Azerbaijan.
Pashinian said the June 7 parliamentary elections would amount to a choice between continuing or abandoning the Karabakh movement, which began in the final years of the Soviet Union and led to decades of tensions and wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region.
“Today, Civil Contract is the only political force that clearly says that it has decided that we are not continuing the Karabakh movement,” he said. “All other forces say that they will continue the Karabakh movement, and the people should make their decision. If people decide that the Karabakh movement continues, it will mean war, because the Karabakh movement is a war.”
He reiterated that a reference in Armenia’s constitution to the 1990 Declaration of Independence, which, in its turn, cites a 1989 act on unification between Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast inside Soviet Azerbaijan, amounts to continuing that movement. Pashinian has previously pledged to remove the provision through a constitutional referendum, saying Azerbaijan views it as a territorial claim hindering a final peace agreement.
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh broke free from Baku’s control in the early 1990s after three years of fighting that left some 30,000 people dead on both sides.
Azerbaijan regained control over the region following the 2020 and 2023 wars against Armenia-backed forces, which killed several thousand people on both sides and prompted the mass exodus of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population.
Opposition leaders have rejected Pashinian’s accusations of inciting war, insisting they support peace while advocating for stronger security guarantees from international actors. They have criticized the peace deal initialed by Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington last year for lacking such guarantees.
Former President Robert Kocharian described Pashinian’s statements as “absurd,” saying it was contradictory for a leader who “has brought three wars” to Armenia to speak about peace. He also called the narrative that “if it is not us, then it will be war” both “dangerous” and “humiliating.”
“Yes, we must do everything to avoid war, but that does not mean making concessions,” Kocharian said. “It means having dignified diplomacy, dignified policies.”
Opposition figures have also accused Pashinian of using war rhetoric for electoral purposes. Artsvik Minasian, an opposition lawmaker allied with Kocharian, argued on Tuesday that such statements intended to influence voters amount to a “crime.”
“It is a threat designed to influence people’s will, which is prohibited and is a criminally punishable act,” Minasian said.