“As long as we do not have a final peace with Azerbaijan, the risk of escalation is always there,” he told Armenian lawmakers.
Mirzoyan made similar comments in April. He spoke of “signs of escalation on the ground” just days after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev warned that Armenia will risk a “new military confrontation” unless it meets Baku’s conditions for signing a bilateral peace treaty.
By contrast, Pashinian has since repeatedly urged Armenians to “forget about” the risk of Azerbaijani military aggression.
“There will be no war between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, there will be peace,” he reiterated last month.
Later in May, Pashinian renewed his calls for Azerbaijan to sign the draft treaty finalized by the two sides in March. Baku dismissed the appeal, insisting on its preconditions, notably a change of Armenia’s constitution.
Azerbaijan remained reluctant to sign the treaty even after Yerevan accepted its proposals regarding the remaining differences on the text of the peace deal.
“We agreed to those [Azerbaijan] points so that the future of the rest of the agreed document does not become uncertain,” said Mirzoyan.
Armenian opposition leader say that this appeasement policy only encourages Aliyev to demand more Armenian concessions and will not bring real peace. They claim that Pashinian is desperate to secure a deeply flawed deal in hopes of misleading Armenians and increasing his chances of holding on to power.