Former FM: peace deal is about Armenia’s subjugation, not peace

PanARMENIAN.Net - Former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, commenting on the conclusion of peace treaty negotiations, stated that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan may receive a signature, but never history’s forgiveness. He made this statement in a Facebook post.

According to him, this deal is not about achieving peace but about “legitimizing” Armenia’s subjugation.

"By reaching the tragically absurd depths of modern Armenian diplomacy, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has once again exposed his political incompetence, strategic shortsightedness, and astonishing willingness to capitulate—solely for the sake of clinging to power. Claiming the conclusion of so-called 'peace treaty' negotiations with Azerbaijan as a diplomatic success is detached from reality. In truth, it is an open admission that he has completely sacrificed Armenian national interests at the negotiating table.

Let’s start with the glaring, inexcusable omissions at the core of this disgrace. According to available information, the agreement does not mention Azerbaijan’s withdrawal from Armenia’s occupied sovereign territories. It says nothing about the release of Armenian prisoners illegally held in Baku, nor does it acknowledge the right of forcibly displaced Armenians from Artsakh to return. These are not mere oversights; they are deliberate exclusions that ignore fundamental national concerns. Pashinyan does not even attempt to justify this painful silence. The very essence of the conflict is brushed aside as if it were insignificant. This alone is enough to brand the agreement as a national disgrace and betrayal, while the cumulative pattern of concessions extracted from Armenia under Pashinyan’s leadership bears his unmistakable mark.

According to Pashinyan’s statements, Armenia has made two final concessions that, in his view, now make the agreement 'ready for signing.' But ready for whom? Ready, perhaps, for Azerbaijan, which has already secured significant territorial and political gains through military aggression and diplomatic pressure. This deal is not about securing peace but about “legitimizing” Armenia’s subjugation. It rewards the use of force, legitimizes war spoils, and treats Armenia’s sovereignty as a negotiable item on Azerbaijan’s list of demands," Oskanian wrote.

Oskanian warned that even this act of self-degradation would not bring finality, as two bleak scenarios loom ahead:

"In the first scenario, Azerbaijan, having extracted written concessions from Armenia, may choose not to sign the document at all. Instead, it may opt to wait, knowing that Armenia will unilaterally implement the agreed measures, such as constitutional changes and the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group.

In the second scenario, Azerbaijan may formally sign the document but avoid parliamentary ratification—just as Turkey did with the 2010 Armenia-Turkey protocols. This tactic would allow Baku to continue exerting pressure and extracting further concessions under the pretext of 'unfulfilled obligations.' That painful precedent should have been imprinted in the memory of Armenian diplomacy. However, under Pashinyan, we are witnessing an almost exact replication of that humiliation. Once again, Armenia is making fundamental unilateral concessions, while its counterpart retains the right to delay, demand more, and ultimately reject everything if Armenia shows any resistance.

Regardless of which path Azerbaijan chooses, the outcome remains the same: the continued erosion of Armenian dignity, sovereignty, and security. One of the most troubling aspects is the prospect of constitutional changes under foreign pressure—an act tantamount to political self-destruction. This is nothing short of national cannibalism. The idea that Armenia might rewrite its fundamental laws to accommodate the preconditions of an aggressor state is a grim reflection of the worst post-conflict capitulations in modern history," he wrote.

Oskanian emphasized that if this agreement is signed, it will not mark the dawn of a new era of peace, but rather the official closure of the Armenian chapter in the long and tragic history of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"This is not peace achieved through dialogue and reconciliation. This is peace imposed through coercion, imbalance, and strategic vacuum. It will not be signed with dignity, but with resignation and despair.

And let there be no illusions. Azerbaijan fully understands this. They know they are not signing an agreement with the Armenian nation or the people of Armenia. They are signing it with Nikol Pashinyan and his narrow circle of loyalists, whose primary concern is not national integrity, but personal survival.

For so many concessions, in return for so little, Pashinyan may get a signature, but never peace, security, or, most certainly, history’s forgiveness," Oskanian concluded.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has stated that it has accepted Azerbaijan’s proposals regarding the two unresolved articles, and the Peace Agreement is now ready for signing. The Ministry noted that Armenia is ready to begin consultations on the date and venue for the signing.

The draft Peace Agreement consists of 17 articles, 15 of which had been previously agreed upon. The unresolved points were the mutual renunciation of international claims and the non-deployment of foreign representatives along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.