Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters in Hamburg, Germany that he had familiarized himself with the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan regarding Armenia’s declaration on a strategic agenda with the European Union.

“And look, here is the situation I see: on the one hand Azerbaijan says ‘Western Azerbaijan,’ on the other it says, ‘Oh, it is written ‘Karabakh Armenians,’ and so on, and so on. In my 2025 address — sorry, in the address I delivered on August 18, 2025, following my August 8 address — I said that the topic of ‘return’ is a very dangerous topic. And now I want to make an open, public proposal to Azerbaijan. Because to the extent they have problems with these topics, we also have problems. I propose that we jointly adopt a roadmap aimed at simultaneously closing these two topics, because I have already said openly, publicly — I have told our people of Karabakh as well, because they say, ‘Well, we shall return.’ I have said it is not realistic,” Pashinyan said.

Also, he recalled his speech in the National Assembly regarding state debt.

“That day in the National Assembly I had the opportunity to say there are two directions for increasing the state debt: one is the purchase of military equipment, armaments and technical means — defense capital expenditures; the second is the needs of our people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, because both are large and urgently necessary expenditures for us. We are making these expenditures so that people stay in Armenia, because if we continue the agenda of ‘return,’ it means we will once again begin the Karabakh Movement.

I have said that we must not continue the Karabakh Movement. Now the Karabakh Movement has ended, and attempts to [re]start [it] are not helpful. But on the other hand, in Armenia they also see that Azerbaijan constantly uses the term ‘Western Azerbaijan,’ some sort of unclear terminology. Now we must understand which is the cause of which, which is a cause and which is a consequence. But I say: I am making a direct proposal [to Azerbaijan], I hope this proposal will be translated so it reaches its destination. I say: let us sit down, develop a roadmap of measures [on] how we remove this topic, because removing this topic means, in long-term strategic terms, completely excluding any conflict situation,” the Armenian premier said.

Also, he emphasized that there cannot be a “Western Azerbaijan” in Armenia.

“I have said that there cannot be a ‘Western Azerbaijan’ in the Republic of Armenia. And yes, I also accept that if we have recognized each other’s territorial integrity — and we have recognized each other’s territorial integrity — then we must fully implement that. This is the path as I envision it,” Pashinyan said.