MP says TRIPP serves Pashinyan’s political agenda

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armen Rustamyan, MP from the Hayastan faction and representative of the ARF Bureau, accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of using the TRIPP initiative in the same way as his 2021 "peace agenda", which Rustamyan says led to war and the depopulation of Artsakh.

“Pashinyan is trying the same trick again. He’s realized this society is easily deceived, and he uses talk of ‘peace’ to stay in power. Now, Turks on one side and Azerbaijanis on the other have become his campaigners, his de facto election team. The electoral process has begun, and he’s packaging this as a major achievement to fool people once again,” Rustamyan told Panorama.am .

According to him, Armenia has no real role in these negotiations. “There’s only a person at the table solving his own problem: how to stay in power,” he said.

Rustamyan also criticized Armenia’s minor stake in the TRIPP project, questioning why a sovereign country would accept only 26% of the management share in a corridor running through its own territory.

“The question is: from what percentage did we start negotiating to end up at 26%? As Mr. Oskanian put it, had we just sat there silently, we might’ve gotten more,” he remarked.

Responding to the argument that past administrations also made concessions, such as giving assets in exchange for debt, Rustamyan said those benefited the country and helped launch factories in Armenia.

“Now we’re not even at the table, we’re on the table. We sit there like decoration, while others decide what crumbs we get,” he added.

Rustamyan also pointed to wording in the TRIPP document, noting that Armenian border guards would be placed in the "back office", while U.S. personnel would staff the "front office", effectively complying with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s demand not to see any Armenian police or border guards.

The TRIPP framework was signed by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The non-binding document outlines cooperation principles but imposes no legal obligations on Armenia or the U.S.