A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Before discussing the issues on the agenda, the Prime Minister of Armenia made a speech in which he addressed the ongoing crisis caused by Azerbaijan's illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor, that country's growing aggressive rhetoric, the peace agenda, the launch of reliable international negotiation mechanisms, and other issues.

Below is the transcript of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's speech.

"Dear participants of the Cabinet meeting,

Dear people,

Azerbaijan marked the 100th day of the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor by the shutdown of natural gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh for the 13th time. This was preceded by the speech of the leader of Azerbaijan in the ethnically cleansed village of Talish in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is difficult to describe as anything other than aggressive. What happened in the village of Talish is a fundamental, solid proof of the ethnic cleansing and genocidal policy implemented by Azerbaijan. In that village, depopulated as a result of the 44-day war, Azerbaijan demolishes houses owned by Armenians and builds houses for Azerbaijanis instead.

What we have been warning about for a long time is now a reality. The leadership of Azerbaijan shows its model of guaranteeing the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh or their "integration" by demolishing the houses owned by Armenians and building houses for Azerbaijanis instead of them, at the same time erasing the Armenian inscriptions on the ancient Armenian monuments and considering the issue resolved.

These actions are illegal and clearly contradict point 7 of the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, which, I would like to remind you, states: "Internally displaced persons and refugees return to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent territories under the supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees". This means that March 18 should have been marked by the return of the Armenian population to Talish and not by the act of vandalism of demolishing their homes.

These actions of the leadership of Azerbaijan were followed by the statement of our compatriots who were deported from Nagorno Karabakh and neighboring regions, who demand from the leaders of the countries that signed the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to ensure the safe and dignified return of Armenians deported from Nagorno Karabakh and neighboring regions to their historic lands and former settlements, in accordance with the obligations assumed in the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, human rights and humanitarian law.

As one of the addressees of the mentioned statement, I want to clearly emphasize that I consider the mentioned demand fair, and the Government of the Republic of Armenia should take all political and diplomatic measures to protect the rights of the authors and beneficiaries of the statement.

Dear participants of the Cabinet meeting,

Dear people,

One main message can be extracted from the March 18 speech of the leader of Azerbaijan. He openly and literally said that Armenia must accept Azerbaijan's conditions and agree to carry out delimitation on Azerbaijan's terms, otherwise there will be no peace treaty. "There will be no peace treaty," this is a verbatim quote from the speech of the president of Azerbaijan.

This is difficult to describe otherwise than an act of aggression against the Republic of Armenia and a gross violation of agreements reached at the highest level. Because the statement adopted based on the results of the quadrilateral meeting on October 6, 2022, I am talking about the Prague statement, says, "Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed their commitment to the UN Charter and the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, through which both sides recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty. They confirmed that this will be the basis for the work of the commissions on delimitation issues”. This is a statement that was also accepted by the leader of Azerbaijan.

A similar statement was adopted on October 31 of the same year, in Sochi, by the President of the Russian Federation, the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan, where it is said: "We agreed to refrain from the use of force or the threat of its use, to discuss and resolve all problematic issues exclusively of sovereignty, on the basis of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders in accordance with the UN Charter and the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration".

After these statements, which are a direct record of the fact that the borders of the Soviet republics have become state borders, Azerbaijan continues to talk about delimitation based on some historical maps, which is absolutely unacceptable, for the simple reason that it contradicts the written agreements reached at the highest level. This behavior of Azerbaijan of violating the agreements became the reason for us to continue insisting that reliable international negotiation mechanisms are needed for the implementation of agreeements on both the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty and the Stepanakert-Baku format regarding the security and rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan's unpunished violations of internationally reached agreements encourage it to initiate new provocations. Such a monstrous provocation took place yesterday, when the Azerbaijani side killed Arshak Sargsyan, a soldier of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, with a targeted, sniper shot.

Offering my condolences to the parents and relatives of the killed conscript, I draw the attention of the international community to the obvious fact that Azerbaijan is developing the situation to a new escalation. This is further substantiated by the absurd narrative of the so-called Western Azerbaijan conducted at the state level of Azerbaijan, which is an open act of encroachment on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. And in general, I must emphasize that this narrative once again demonstrates that our government interpreted Azerbaijan's messages correctly from the very beginning, and this continuous policy and narrative questioning the right to exist of the Republic of Armenia is the reason for the non-resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan has fabricated a new accusation against the Republic of Armenia that Armenia is a mono-ethnic country and there are no national minorities in Armenia. First of all, such formulations are a gross interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of Armenia, and not only are there national minorities in Armenia, but they are also represented and have mandates in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, and this is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Currently, there are 4 MPs representing national minorities in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, and if speaking on such topics is not interference in the internal affairs of the country, then let's record that the persecution of not only the press, not only the opposition, but also the representatives of national minorities in Azerbaijan have systemic nature.

The international press is flooded with materials telling about the murders and imprisonments of leaders protecting the interests of national minorities in Azerbaijan. Moreover, the witnesses, the tortured, persecuted activists or the family members of the killed activists themselves tell about numerous cases. Perhaps Azerbaijan will show good will and set parliamentary quotas for national minorities in the Milli Mejlis and guarantee it in the constitution. This may be the first step towards correcting the situation.

Dear participants of the Cabinet meeting,

Dear people,

Summarizing my speech, I want to send the following message to all of you and the international community. there will be a peace treaty and that will be based on written documents obtained at the highest levels to date.

As for what we have to do, the Armenian government and the public should engage in daily creative work, building, reforming, creating good, strengthening the security system. And we must not for a minute deviate from the path of development, strengthening of Armenia and strengthening of our democracy.

Thank you."