Abkhazian Deputies Critique Pashinyan’s Stance on Georgian Territorial Claims

SUKHUM / AQW'A ― Deputies of the People's Assembly - Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia, Ashot Minosyan, Galust Trapizonyan, Erik Rshtuni, and Levon Galustyan, have issued a statement in response to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. In his recent remarks, Pashinyan expressed unwavering support for what he referred to as the unity and statehood of Georgia.

“In my public statements, I have repeatedly declared that we fully and unequivocally support the unity and statehood of Georgia,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently stated.

In their statement, the deputies of the Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia said:

"Following the tragedy in Artsakh, where the current Armenian leadership doomed 120,000 of its citizens in Nagorno-Karabakh to displacement, one could have disregarded Pashinyan's latest statement. However, his thesis on supporting the territorial integrity of Georgia sounded excessively cynical.

This cynicism is not because the Republic of Abkhazia, being an independent state, has no relation to sovereign Georgia, but because just a few years ago, Yerevan loudly proclaimed that Artsakh was Armenia and would not allow any Azerbaijani encroachments on the territory of Karabakh.

Unfortunately, subsequent events showed that Armenian authorities are prone to opportunism and easily change positions, including on such a sensitive issue for all Armenians as the existence of the Artsakh state. The fact of its disappearance from the world's political map is entirely the 'merit' of official Yerevan, which has done everything to abandon the idea of building a sovereign Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Let's recall that tens of thousands of people laid down their lives for its creation."

The authors of the statement perceive Pashinyan's words as a demarche against their homeland – the Republic of Abkhazia.

The Armenian Prime Minister's statement negatively impacted them and left an unpleasant aftertaste.

The deputies of the Parliament of Abkhazia remind Nikol Pashinyan that 42,000 Armenians live in independent Abkhazia.

“All conditions have been created for the indigenous people to study our native language and preserve our unique customs and traditions. We proudly call Abkhazia our homeland. Lastly: Armenia can, of course, support the territorial integrity of Georgia. But the sovereign Republic of Abkhazia has no relation to it whatsoever. For 30 years now, our multinational people have been building their state. Unlike Pashinyan, in Abkhazia, there are no politicians who would doubt the choice of the people and with a stroke of a pen, liquidate a country won by the blood of its sons and daughters,” the deputies' statement concludes."

Aslan Bzhania, President of the Republic of Abkhazia.

Aslan Bzhania responds to Pashinyan

Meanwhile, in a recent statement, the President of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, responded to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s remarks.

President Bzhania, in his statement published on the official state website, criticised the Armenian leadership for its pro-Georgian stance, which he argues contradicts the sovereignty of Abkhazia. He highlighted Pashinyan's support for "unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence, and democracy of Georgia," as fundamentally opposing Abkhazia's status as a sovereign state.

Bzhania further emphasised the role and rights of the Armenian community in Abkhazia, drawing a stark contrast to the situation in Karabakh. Bzhania stated, 'Armenians in Abkhazia have everything that Nikol Pashinyan could not guarantee to the Armenians of Karabakh.' He criticised Pashinyan's policies, which led to the statehood collapse and mass exodus in Nagorno-Karabakh, and indirectly affected the territorial integrity of Armenia itself.

Concluding his statement, Bzhania called for the Armenian leadership to reconsider its foreign policy approach, moving away from rhetoric influenced by Western perspectives and acknowledging the actual international realities.