Sinanyan on loss of Artsakh: “So what?”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia’s High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan said that “punishment should not reach Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan or the authorities” when asked by journalists when Pashinyan and his government would be held responsible for the loss of Artsakh.

When a journalist noted that the events had occurred during the current government’s tenure, Sinanyan replied: “So what, what’s the big deal?”, Panorama.am reports.

To illustrate his point, he offered an analogy.

“For example, imagine an alcoholic with a clinical illness who develops liver cirrhosis. He keeps drinking and drinking, and at the last moment a doctor is called to save his life, but the doctor cannot save him,” Sinanyan said.

Responding to a suggestion that Pashinyan could have resigned and acknowledged that he could not change the situation, Sinanyan said such a move would have been irresponsible.

“What you’re saying is irresponsibility. What does it mean that he should have resigned?” he said.

Sinanyan also stated that no instructions had been issued to diaspora organizations not to address the topic of Artsakh in order to avoid harming Armenia’s foreign policy, Sputnik Armenia reports.

“No such instruction has been given at any level to any organization or individual in the diaspora. Moreover, I will say that even we have not received such an instruction. I personally have not received any such directive from the prime minister, who is my direct supervisor. Therefore, I can confidently say — no,” Sinanyan said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly said that the discourse surrounding Artsakh should be limited, arguing that the Karabakh movement will not continue.

He has also criticized references to the Republic of Artsakh in public contexts, including religious services, saying such statements signal confrontation and may amount to calls for war.