If Nikol Pashinyan stayed in power after November 9, 2020, it means he has unfinished business. This is what former Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia Artak Zakaryan said during today’s conference entitled “Political and Legal Challenges After the Elections in Armenia”.

“We need to talk a lot about the problems we see and the problems that already pose a threat to national security, manageability and Armenia’s international reputation. It’s safe to say that the interests of large countries and the region have clashed over the past four to five years. Armenia had to calculate the interests and its relations with allies clearly so that the balance wouldn’t be breached.

There was a logic of development for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (as one of the keys to development of the region) within the scope of the OSCE Minsk Group, that is, within the scope of the three principles and five statements, and these principles were comprehensible for the international community. The most painful thing is that the incumbent authorities did everything the way they shouldn’t have done. This poses more threats to relations with Armenia. Armenia has ceased to be a country establishing security in the region and will face great hardships in terms of foreign policy, and the whole strategy needs to be changed. The country must play a small role in large transport and energy projects.

At the same time, there are new opportunities, and Armenia needs to work and advance the country’s interests. We need stability in the country, but Azerbaijan and Turkey aren’t allowing us to achieve this by creating problems on the border and abroad.

The current parliamentary opposition may create a counterbalance and even form a social movement. Pashinyan understands this and is making a deal with extra-parliamentary forces. If Pashinyan is still in power after November 9, 2020, it means he has unfinished business. The parliamentary opposition must prevent this, as well as play the role of an impulse and exert pressure on the authorities. There has never been a situation in Armenia where the country’s fate depends on the opposition,” Zakaryan added.