YEREVAN. – There is no government in Armenia; there is a junta, led by capitulator [acting PM] Nikol Pashinyan in Armenia, serving the interests of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Eduard Sharmazanov, National Assembly ex-deputy speaker and former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) vice-chairman, told this to a press conference Tuesday.

"There is no sovereignty today [in Armenia]. [Rustam] Muradov [commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent that is stationed in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict zone] has more power than this [Pashinyan]. (…). He says, "We have applied to the CSTO.’ Why did you apply to the CSTO? "Boy, do you not have the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defense, the NSS [National Security Service]?" Sharmazanov added.

Referring to Security Council secretary Armen Grigoryan’s statement that Azerbaijan tried to sow in the Armenian society that it had won the recent Artsakh war, Sharmazanov countered: "If Azerbaijan did not win, you and Nikol should have gone to Shushi to hold a festival. (…). If Azerbaijan has not won, go to Hadrut, Talish, Mataghis."

According to Eduard Sharmazanov, Nikol Pashinyan has turned Azerbaijan from a defeated into a victorious state.

As per Sharmazanov, Pashinyan managed to introduce certain disagreements within the Armenian opposition and achieve snap parliamentary elections. "Our biggest problem is indifference. I am very happy that political content is possible during these elections because there are [political] teams of the first, second, and third presidents," he added.

Eduard Sharmazanov noted that it is at least strange and ridiculous for him that First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who was at the roots of the Artsakh movement and during whose tenure a victorious ceasefire was signed, equates the years from 1998 to 2018 with their following three years during which there was a defeat. "Moreover, [third President and RPA leader] Serzh Sargsyan's negotiating legacy was the best, by which the people of Artsakh were to receive a status, even independence, by a document," Eduard Sharmazanov added.