After the 44-day Artsakh war, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan never left for Artsakh, while before that he had at least 12 similar visits. CivilNet sent a written request to the government, asking to explain why the Prime Minister is not leaving for Artsakh, when the next visit is planned.
The staff of the government avoids answering the CivilNet inquiry, noting that “proper information is given about all the visits of the RA Prime Minister.” It became known today that Nikol Pashinyan is going on a short vacation until September 3. The Prime Minister will be on vacation on the 30th anniversary of Artsakh’s independence, on September 2. A special sitting of the parliament will be held in Artsakh on September 1, the next day an event dedicated to the Independence Day, which, however, will not be attended by either the RA President Armen Sargsyan, the RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan or the RA NA Speaker Alen Simonyan.
The Armenian Foreign and Defense Ministers also do not visit Artsakh officially. Ara Ayvazyan, one of the Armenian Foreign Ministers, last visited Artsakh on January 5. Ayvazyan’s visit caused great dissatisfaction in Baku, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry described it as “illegal” and Ilham Ali as a “provocation”. “These visits must be stopped. “If such provocative steps are taken again, we warn that Armenia will regret it much more,” Ali stated. After that, neither the RA President, nor the RA Prime Minister, nor the RA NA Speaker or the Foreign Minister left for Artsakh publicly. According to CivilNet, the newly appointed Minister of Defense Arshak Karapetyan recently left for Artsakh, but no message was spread about that visit.
The visit of the Minister of Defense of Armenia to Artsakh officially took place on December 1, 2020, when the newly appointed Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan met with the President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan in Stepanakert. CivilNet also inquired from the staff of the Prime Minister of Armenia whether there was external pressure on the Armenian side in terms of visits to Artsakh. That question remained unanswered.