'War party' lying to Armenia about peace - Pashinyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused the main opposition forces of “cynical lies” and branded them as 'war parties'. According to him, in the preceding period Armenia never truly had peace, rather, the country had a postponement of war.

"The tripartite war party of Kocharyan-Karapetyan-Tsarukyan is trying to convince people that before 2024-2025, and even before 2018, we had peace. Of course, this claim is a cynical lie, even considering the simple fact that since independence - and even after the 1994 ceasefire - we have had casualties and injuries every year as a result of exchanges of fire with Azerbaijan. Moreover, the casualties number in the hundreds, and the number of wounded is significantly higher," Pashinyan said.

He stressed that perhaps this is their notion of peace, that Armenia had casualties every year.

"Our understanding, on the other hand, is the opposite: peace means the absence of deaths and injuries; peace means the complete absence of any tension...In the preceding period we never truly had peace; rather, we had a postponement of war," Pashinyan said.

The PM added that it is also important to note how and at what cost the postponement of war occurred: Armenia’s independence, sovereignty, statehood, the well-being of its citizens, and economic development.