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The
fall of Karabakh, a region that the ethnic Armenian separatists
had controlled for three decades with Yerevan's support, has
stoked calls in Armenia for Pashinyan's resignation.
"Today we are living in difficult times, suffering untold
physical and psychological suffering," Pashinyan said in a
televised address marking Armenia's national independence day in
which he made no direct reference to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia has benefited from democracy, the rule of law and a
principled anti-corruption policy, but it also needs peace,
Pashinyan said.
"Peace is a factor that ensures and guarantees security as well
as independence and sovereignty," he said.
"(Armenia) must take this path for the sake of independence, for
the sake of statehood, for the sake of the future", he added.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday he valued
the fact that Armenia - which had few options - had not tried to
interfere in Baku's lightning offensive. Aliyev said this would
remove an obstacle to wider peace negotiations between the two
Caucasus neighbors.
Pashinyan in 2020 presided over a war in which a newly confident
and better-armed Azerbaijan seized control of swathes of
territory previously controlled by the separatists, laying the
groundwork for this week's capture of the entire region.
Pashinyan nonetheless won re-election in Armenia a few months
later.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by
Gareth Jones)
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