We have turned legitimacy into efficient security tool - Nikol  Pashinyan

ArmInfo.  For many years, Armenia has been convinced that military-political alliances and the army are of primary importance in reducing the country's  vulnerability in terms of security. However, history has shown that  this formula has failed on either the first or second point. This was  stated by RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on September 15 at the  opening of the international conference "Comprehensive Security and  Confrontation - 2025" in Yerevan.

On the first point, he noted, the CSTO even recorded that it  "considers Azerbaijan the same fraternal country as Armenia" and  "recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan". The latter  statement, including regarding the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh is part  of Azerbaijan, was confirmed by the Russian President on November 18  and December 17, 2020, when he stated that the territory of  Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan from the standpoint of  international law, Pashinyan added.

"That is, this primary security concept - a military-political  alliance in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, did not  work," he pointed out, noting that if the RA had been more attentive,  they would have been able to foresee these developments long before  these events.

The events of May 2021 and September 2022 also speak in favor of the  ineffectiveness of this formula.  Then Armenia turned to the CSTO for  help due to the violation of its territorial integrity, but the  organization questioned the fact of the invasion of the sovereign  territory of the RA, citing "the still undivided borders of the RA."  At the same time, the Armenian Prime Minister continued, the question  arose as to whether the CSTO countries - RA's partners in the  organization - recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia.

"But we did not even have time to answer this question or try to find  an answer to it, when suddenly, unexpectedly for us, another,  seemingly unimaginable question arose: do we recognize our own  territorial integrity or not? There is something to talk about here.  Of course, we recognize how a country can not recognize its  territorial integrity, but what kind of territorial integrity is this  that we recognize and expect recognition from our CSTO partners?,"  Pashinyan emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister noted that among the main instruments  for ensuring security, if not the most important, then at least one  of the most important institutions, is legitimacy, which has become  one of the axes of the security strategy of the RA authorities.

"First, we needed to determine what our territorial integrity is, and  we decided to rely on indisputable legitimacy. We relied on the  Alma-Ata Declaration and set a task: we are ready to recognize the  territorial integrity of Azerbaijan based on the Alma-Ata  Declaration, because we ourselves are ready to recognize our  territorial integrity based on this declaration," Pashinyan said,  noting that in Prague, Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a political  agreement on their readiness to recognize each other's territorial  integrity and sovereignty based on the Alma-Ata Declaration.

"This was a turning point that changed our entire strategy. This was  our first attempt to turn legitimacy into a security tool. From that  moment on, this tool began to work. Its formulation is as follows:  "Based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, the inviolability of 29,743  square kilometers of the internationally recognized sovereign  territory of Armenia and the borders covering this territory, both  from the outside and from the inside," Nikol Pashinyan said.

The conference <Comprehensive Security and Confrontation - 2025> is  also attended by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who  will deliver a speech. The event is attended by the Secretary of the  Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan, the head of the Foreign  Intelligence Service Kristine Grigoryan, the head of the EU mission  to Armenia Markus Ritter, ambassadors accredited in the country, and  international experts.