Armenian soldiers in occupied Karabakh forced to pay money

Armenia has completed another collection of taxes from the diaspora held under the title of charity marathon of the Hayastan Foundation.

Nikol Pashinyan is yet using political tricks to meet his passion to take a post of prime minister in Armenia. Populist statements on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a very convenient political tool for him to manipulate confidence of voters and gain a majority in the National Assembly Pashinyan. This can smooth his path to the top of government.

Despite previous agreements and principles of holding peace talks on resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Pashinyan repeated his provocative statement, urging that effectiveness of the negotiations depends on the direct involvement of Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan believes that the Armenian leadership has no political, legal or moral basis to conduct negotiations on its behalf.

"This statement harms the process of conflict settlement that is so weak and demonstrates the intention to consolidate the “fait accompli” situation that has developed as a result of Armenia’s use of force against Azerbaijan," said acting spokeswoman of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva. The acting prime minister's statement repeats the unfounded and previously expressed opinion in connection with the involvement of NagornoKarabakh in the negotiation process, and is intended for the internal audience on the eve of the elections.

Abdullayeva states that if Pashinyan was interested in resolving the conflict, he would not have impeded the format of the negotiations conducted under the leadership of the OSCE Minsk Group. In these negotiations, Armenia and Azerbaijan are direct participants, as was openly defined by the decision of the Helsinki Council of Ministers of the CSCE (now the OSCE) in 1992.

She noted that unreasonable and contradictory statements of the person acting as the Prime Minister of Armenia show that he cannot go far from his predecessor in “building a good future” for the Armenian people. This statement raises doubts about the sincerity of Armenia on the eve of the bilateral meeting, which was discussed during the visit of the co-chairs to the region.

The first parliamentary elections will be held in Armenia after the change of power in the republic following the “velvet revolution” on December 9.

Former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan resigned amid protests against his election as Prime Minister on April 23. At a rally on April 17, opposition parliamentarian Nikol Pashinyan announced the start of a “velvet revolution” in the country. On May 8, the Armenian parliament elected Pashinyan as prime minister of the country.

After the constitutional reform approved at the 2015 referendum, Armenia moved from presidential to parliamentary system of government. All power is concentrated in the hands of the country's prime minister. A representative function is assigned to the President Armen Sargsyan elected by the parliament on March 2.