Pashinyan at PACE: Our 'Newborn Peace' Is Fragile

In his speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that more than seven years after the revolution, Armenia occupies its modest but firm place among the democratic countries of Europe. He emphasized that today there is peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which, however, is still very fragile. The Prime Minister described the current state of peace with a symbolic epithet: "Our newborn peace is today 1 month and 22 days old." He called for careful treatment of this fragile achievement, adding: "We must treat it with tenderness, love and care for it, so that it grows, matures, strengthens, and makes our region of the South Caucasus flourish."

Pashinyan assured that democracy in Armenia is in reliable hands, and the country has recorded unprecedented progress in strengthening statehood and sovereignty in recent years. "The Republic of Armenia is more independent today than ever, more of a state than ever, more sovereign than ever, more democratic than ever," he stated.

Pashinyan also referred to the 44-day war, describing it as part of a hybrid war, the target of which was the statehood and independence of Armenia. According to him, war and disinformation were the tools with which anti-democratic forces demanded the surrender of power.

As the most important achievement of internal democratization, Pashinyan mentioned the fact that the concept of a "post-election process" has disappeared from Armenia's political life. If before 2018 people pinned their hopes for change on post-election protests, knowing that the elections would be falsified, today the situation has changed. In the new Armenia, great importance is given to the role of women figures, Pashinyan said. "The number of women MPs in our country's parliament has never been as high as it is today, the number of women ministers in the government has never been as high as it is today, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor's Office, the Foreign Intelligence Service are headed by women, which is a precedent in our history," Pashinyan said at PACE.

Concluding his speech, the Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to democratic values. "Democracy is too precious and important for us, and we cannot be like those who use the tools of democracy to harm democracy," noted Nikol Pashinyan.