Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stunned the nation over the weekend, declaring that the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh was not Armenian soil and that the decades-long national movement to claim it was a "fatal mistake."
In a widely circulated video, Pashinyan challenged the prior national narrative, repeatedly asking, "How was that land ours?" He argued that Armenia never built schools, factories, or settlements there, concluding, "It was not ours."
His remarks come days after the European Political Community summit in Yerevan, where French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Armenia's turn toward Europe, saying it is now opening a "new era."
Pashinyan's pivot has drawn a sharp response from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who warned Sunday against anti-Azerbaijani forces in Armenia ahead of June elections. Aliyev insisted, "We have achieved what we set out to achieve."
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, after being snubbed by Pashinyan at Russia's Victory Day parade, suggested that Armenia should hold a referendum on its EU membership path. Putin drew a parallel to Ukraine, saying its pro-EU course triggered the current war. Pashinyan dismissed the referendum idea for now, calling it a matter of transformation, not political taste.