Eduard Sharmazanov, a board member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), has criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Facebook, accusing him of remaining silent about Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s desecration of the Artsakh flag while strongly condemning the burning of Turkish and Azerbaijani flags in Yerevan.

“Nikol doesn’t condemn Aliyev trampling on the Artsakh flag, but he does condemn young Armenians for burning Azerbaijan’s flag.

He calls it ‘a provocation to burn the flag of a neighboring country.’

You can have different opinions about flag burning, but for Nikol, what matters most on April 24 isn’t the occupation of Artsakh, the seizure of 240 square kilometers of Armenian territory, the nightly attacks on peaceful villages, or Turkey’s policy of denial—but calling the burning of flags a provocation.

Some 140,000 Armenians from Artsakh have been forcibly displaced due to Azerbaijan’s genocidal policy—why don’t you speak about that?

Azerbaijan is erasing Armenian traces in Artsakh—why don’t you talk about that? Because Aliyev has ‘got you scared’ and is ‘pulling your strings,’” Sharmazanov wrote.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan condemned the burning of Turkish and Azerbaijani flags, with his spokesperson Nazeli Baghdasaryan stating that he considers the act irresponsible and unacceptable.

The flag burning took place on April 23 in Yerevan before the annual torchlight procession held under the slogan “Do not deny,” as a protest against denialist policies.