Pashinyan Claims Trump-Brokered Peace Deal Impossible If Armenia Had Artsakh

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the nation after signing a U.S.-brokered agreement with Azerbaijan and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington. In his remarks, he said that if Armenia still had Artsakh, there would be no peace. Pashinyan’s statement showed a major change in policy and alarmed Armenians who had to forcibly flee their indigenous homeland of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Pashinyan called the August 8 summit at the White House a turning point.

“After August 8, we live in a completely different South Caucasus, in a new Republic of Armenia. Peace is an unfamiliar reality and an alien life for us; let's not underestimate this reality. We must learn from scratch what it means to live in peace, what peace is like,” he said.

The prime minister framed the agreement as an opening of borders and new opportunities, saying Armenia is “being unblocked after 30 years.”

Pashinyan acknowledged that more than 200 square kilometers of Armenia remain under Azerbaijani control. He said these lands would be addressed during the border delimitation process.

“There are sovereign territories of Armenia that are under the control of Azerbaijan and there are Azerbaijani territories that are under the control of the Republic of Armenia,” he stated.

The treaty did not provide a clear solution for the occupied areas.

The agreement also excluded the issue of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan. Pashinyan argued that addressing the matter outside the treaty allowed for the release of 58 captives. 

“If the issue had remained in the peace treaty, this would most likely not have happened,” he said.

Pashinyan announced that Armenia and Azerbaijan will jointly nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

“The contribution of US President Donald Trump and his administration has been crucial. For this reason, together with the President of Azerbaijan, we have decided to submit a joint application to the Norwegian Nobel Committee,” he said.

The most controversial part of Pashinyan’s speech concerned the fate of Artsakh Armenians displaced by Azerbaijan’s September 2023 attack.

“As for our compatriots displaced from Karabakh, I have publicly stated more than once that I do not consider their ideas about return to be realistic,” he said.

He described discussions about repatriation as “a dangerous factor that undermines the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” Instead, he said Artsakh Armenians should permanently resettle in Armenia with government and international support.

More than 120,000 ethnic Armenians fled Artsakh after Azerbaijan’s 2023 offensive. The peace treaty signed in Washington does not mention their rights, their return, or international guarantees for their safety.

Pashinyan’s statement that peace would not exist if Armenia had Artsakh is a reversal from his earlier stance, when in 2019 he declared, “Artsakh is Armenia.”

The Washington agreement leaves open questions about occupied Armenian land, displaced populations, and prisoners still held in Azerbaijan. For many, the August 8 deal represents not the resolution of conflict but the beginning of a difficult new chapter for Armenia.

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