Pashinyan: "Peace is an Unfamiliar Environment for Us"

Peace is an unfamiliar concept and environment for the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Nikol Pashinyan stated this at the Orbeli Forum 2025, titled "Building Peace and Multilateral Cooperation." "From the first day of our independence, from the first days of our independences, we do not know what peace is. We have never dealt with the phenomenon of peace, peace itself. On the contrary, even in the period preceding and leading up to our independence, the key factor and characteristic of our relations has been conflict.

And essentially, Armenia and Azerbaijan gained independence against the backdrop of conflict, within the logic of conflict, and thanks to the energy derived from the conflict. And we should not underestimate this fact at all. And I also want to emphasize that the conflict of more than 30 years—and in terms of arithmetic, we must record that the history of this problem, of this conflict, began at the end of '88-'87, from '88, and essentially, has it continued or is it continuing to this day? In essence, the conflict is over politically, the conflict is resolved, but we must understand that socio-psychologically, a socio-psychology of 30 years and more is not a phenomenon that can simply be stopped by flipping a switch and pulling the brakes. And therefore, this logic is periodically expressed in both Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is expressed in the press, it is expressed in public circles, it is expressed in expert circles, it is even expressed at the level of the countries' leadership, and we must also find the right formulas for dealing with this phenomenon. I say again, a conflict of 30 and more years is not something, or in general, you know what, any phenomenon of 30 and more years, any phenomenon that anyone has lived in for 30-35 years, a routine, cannot be stopped by applying a brake lever.

But is it possible to stop it or not? Yes, it is possible. How? Through political leadership. And this is the greatest and most important question. The relationship of political leadership with the situation, with the strategic planning of the future, and very importantly, with history. Because, I believe, it is political leadership that must give a clear answer to one question: what do we want to be, do we want to be consumers of history, or do we want to be creators of history? The experience of the last two years tells us that we can be creators of history. Which does not at all mean forgetting history, but on the other hand, not forgetting history and being a creator of history means at least not entering into the controversial role of a reproducer of history.

And this is our perception. Because, in general, by referring to history, we must also understand one thing. What is the legitimate starting point of history? Because history is a long phenomenon. There is a history of 50 years, there is a history of 30 years, there is a history of 50 years, there is a history of 100 years, there is a history of 500 years, there is a history of 1000 years, there is a history of 2000 years. And if we try to find the logic and justification for our actions today in history, it means that we do not believe in peace," said the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.