“We are coming to solve problems,” he told a news conference. “We aspire to forming a government. I aspire to the post of Armenia’s prime minister. As an independent political force, we will be following this agenda.”
Tatoyan, who is popular with supporters of the Armenian opposition, said his “political initiative” named the Wings of Unity will be transformed into a political party or bloc ahead of the showdown elections due in June. He indicated that he is open to forming an electoral alliance with other opposition groups but refused to name any potential allies. He admitted having held “discussions” with former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK).
The new group led by Tatoyan has been joined by Davit Ananian, a vocal critic of Pashinian who headed Armenia’s State Revenue Committee from 2018-2020. It does not seem to comprise other prominent political or public figures as yet.
Tatoyan, 43, was installed as ombudsman by Armenia’s former leadership in 2016 two years before the “velvet revolution” that brought Pashinian to power. Following the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, he grew increasingly critical of the current government and was accused by it of engaging in political activities in breach of his mandate. Tatoyan repeatedly denounced Pashinian’s policy towards Azerbaijan and, in particular, his responses to cross-border Azerbaijani incursions and broader handling of Armenia’s border security.
The U.S.-educated lawyer stepped up the criticism after completing his six-year term in 2022. He openly supported last year an opposition-backed protest movement sparked by Pashinian’s decision to cede several disputed border areas to Azerbaijan.
Tatoyan on Thursday dismissed Pashinian’s repeated claims that Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements reached in Washington on August 8 put an end to the conflict between the two South Caucasus states. Fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani stopped because of “unilateral” and “humiliating” concessions made by Pashinian, he said, adding that observance of the ceasefire depends only on the “goodwill of Azerbaijan’s president.”
Tatoyan also vowed to continue to champion the right of Karabakh’s displaced ethnic Armenian population to return to its homeland. But he also said: “We will not be guided by illusions about the return of Artsakh. We will avoid such rhetoric. We don’t consider it an issue on our agenda.”