Why was a law passed, according to which the Republic of Azerbaijan is located near the village of Shurnukh? Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this Tuesday in the National Assembly (NA), answering the question of opposition "Armenia" Faction MP Tadevos Avetisyan on how many kindergartens, schools, hospitals, villages, cities, intra-community, and interstate roads have passed under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the 44-day Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war last fall.

"I am not saying this to cause pain, but to relate to the facts. After all, according to our state logic, to whom did the territories you are talking about belong? Why does one not have an explanation? Many people in the [NA sessions’] hall have voted for that law. We have a systemic problem because we do not determine what attitude we have towards all that.

Don’t suddenly think that I intend to avoid any confrontation, political challenge, any accusation. If the citizens of the Republic of Armenia decide—including for what you said—that I should be shot, I will obediently go under the wall of shooting.

We have put our proposed agendas, you—your agendas, we—our proposed wording, you—your wording, our proposed hypotheses, you—your hypotheses, we have taken them to the elections, we have taken them to the elections, and the citizen of Armenia has made his decision. You can ignore that decision, but you will not get any benefit from it. As for the issue, I can say yes, we have lost a lot," Pashinyan stated.

Pashinyan added that it is not a question of a sufficient quorum, but of a political position.

"When was the last time you have been to the lost territories you listed? How many millions or billions [of dollars] were invested in those territories? Throughout the history of negotiations, Armenia has never disputed that they are not Armenian territories. That is, the necessity and inevitability of returning those territories to Azerbaijan has never been disputed," the Armenian PM stated.