Pashinian stressed the importance of continued U.S. involvement in the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process when he spoke at the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think-tank, during a visit to Washington late on Tuesday.
“Following the campaign of President Trump, we saw that the peace agenda is very important for him and we see an opportunity to draw the attention of the current administration [to the fact] that peace in the South Caucasus is reachable and maybe more efforts or any efforts or real efforts from the administration will be successful,” he said.
“It is very important not to express indifference by the international community [in connection] with our region because indifference could provoke escalation,” he warned. “And at least it is very important for stability in our region to have real attention and to have a peace agenda of the South Caucasus on the priority list of the current U.S. administration and the international community.”
During the U.S. presidential race, Trump blamed then President Joe Biden’s administration for the 2023 forced exodus of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population and pledged to “protect persecuted Christians” and “restore peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” But since taking office late last month, neither he nor members of his administration, including Secretary of State Macro Rubio, have made any public statements on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
The main declared purpose of Pashinian’s visit to Washington, which began on Monday, is to attend the annual International Religious Freedom Summit taking place in the U.S. capital. He was not scheduled to meet with Trump or senior administration officials. Earlier on Tuesday, the Armenian premier met with a group of U.S. lawmakers.
Just days before Trump’s inauguration, Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken signed with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan a document that upgraded U.S.-Armenian relations to “strategic partnership.” Blinken described it as a “framework to expand our bilateral cooperation in a number of key areas,” including defense and security. Trump administration officials have not yet commented on that document either.
The Armenian government has been seeking to deepen ties with the United States and the European Union amid a deepening rift with Russia, Armenia’s longtime ally. Pashinian said at the Atlantic Council that he remains committed to “diversifying our foreign relations in all fields.”