Pashinyan’s remarks that “no schools or kindergartens were built” in Karabakh spark backlash in Armenia

By Siranush Adamyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has drawn sharp criticism after questioning Armenia’s historical and social connection to Nagorno-Karabakh during an election campaign stop in the southern village of Kornidzor.

“What made Artsakh ours? Did we build schools there, kindergartens, factories? Did we live there? What made it ours?” Pashinyan said on Friday while campaigning in Syunik province. He also argued that salaries and pensions in Karabakh had been higher “at Armenia’s expense.”

The remarks triggered immediate backlash in Armenia. 

Former Yerevan mayor Hayk Marutyan, now leading the New Force party in the June 7 parliamentary elections, mocked Pashinyan’s comments in a Facebook reel. The video juxtaposed the prime minister’s remarks with footage of schools, kindergartens, factories and everyday life in Nagorno-Karabakh before the 2023 exodus of its Armenian population.

Former Nagorno-Karabakh state minister and ex-human rights ombudsman Artak Beglaryan called Pashinyan’s statements “absurd.” He argued that pan-Armenian investments had helped create educational and social infrastructure in Karabakh that was often “far better” than in many Armenian communities.

Beglaryan also pointed to demographic trends, saying Karabakh’s population had increased by more than 10 percent during the post-Soviet years, while Armenia itself experienced population decline.

“This is the best proof that people saw a future in Artsakh, built homes and started families there,” he said.

Responding to Pashinyan’s comments about Armenian state funding, Beglaryan said much of the support sent to Karabakh effectively came back through taxes and customs duties paid into Armenia’s state budget by businesses operating in the region.

Gayane Abrahamyan, a member of Armenia’s Public Council, said the prime minister’s public language on Karabakh, war and forced displacement should be “extremely cautious and responsible.”

She acknowledged that corruption and underinvestment existed during the decades Armenia controlled the region, but said that could not be used to question its Armenian identity.

“Such statements are not only unacceptable for domestic audiences, they also send dangerous messages internationally,” Abrahamyan said. “With this rhetoric, we contribute to Azerbaijani propaganda and policies aimed at erasing the Armenian identity of Artsakh.”

Pashinyan’s latest remarks stand in contrast to his earlier rhetoric on Karabakh.

Before the 2020 war, and for some time afterward, he repeatedly stressed the region’s Armenian identity and the principle of self-determination. In August 2019, speaking in Stepanakert, he declared: “Artsakh is Armenia, period.”

In a September 2019 message marking the anniversary of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Pashinyan praised the region’s development alongside Armenia and the diaspora. During the 2020 war, he also wrote that Nagorno-Karabakh “has never been part of independent Azerbaijan.”

The prime minister’s evolving language on Karabakh reflects a broader shift in Armenia’s official policy since the 2020 war and the 2023 exodus of Karabakh Armenians. Pashinyan’s government has increasingly emphasized Armenia’s internationally recognized borders and pursued a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, while critics accuse him of abandoning Armenian claims and weakening the historical narrative surrounding the region.