Armenia has made every effort to prevent de-Armenianization in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was stated Friday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ararat Mirzoyan, during the discussions of the report on the progress and results of the 2023 implementation of the 2021-2026 program of the Armenian government at the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly—and addressing opposition MP Anna Grigoryan's remarks about the de-Armenianization of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and that the year 2023 will remain a black chapter in the history of Armenia.

"When we [i.e. the incumbent Armenian authorities] say we have nothing to do with de-Armenianization, of course we don't. We tried to ensure that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh remain in their historical cradle and be endowed with certain security guarantees. We will all remember how our efforts and wording aimed at protecting the rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh people were criticized by you and how they were criticized in Nagorno-Karabakh, what ambitions were expressed at the moment when we called for constructive negotiations, with what labels our calls were being rejected, and what happened in the end.

The reason for the de-Armenianization [of Nagorno-Karabakh] was that Azerbaijan used military force, the political elite of Nagorno-Karabakh was busy changing the government, they sent a person endowed with power for a few days, and he issued a decree on the dissolution of Nagorno-Karabakh.

We have done everything so that the population of Nagorno-Karabakh lived there with rights. At the moment when Armenia’s government was proposing to work towards the rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh population, you were criticizing that policy, and it was heard ten times louder in Stepanakert. Resolutions on various territories were being passed there. They suddenly went, in two days they dissolved the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic they had declared. If you have accusations, go give [them] to other people. We are not to blame for this," the Armenian FM added.