declared position . It was related to the fact that the 2020 Karabakh process was very recent and Pashinian is still in process of clarifying his current positions on a number of issues and they are not solidly formed and declared yet . Also it should be considered that no significant literature in the academia on the relevance of Pashinian ’ s declared positions , the correlation of his initial statements with the currently declared positions exists due to the recent nature of the war that has fundamentally transformed the previously ongoing conflict resolution process , so there was no solid academic basis for the study of the Pashinian`s case and it was done almost from scratch .
Findings
The Karabakh conflict is one of the most complex conflicts in the present day that has intensified since the collapse of the Soviet Union . The conflict is not only a territorial dispute but is also an example of ethnic confrontation , which makes it even more complex . For over 30 years , the Karabakh conflict has been attempted to be resolved through various diplomatic , military and political means , but to no avail . The last serious escalation of the conflict occurred in the fall of 2020 , due to the aggression of Azerbaijan , turning into a full-scale war that completely changed the status quo that had existed since 1994 .
The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian , who came to power on the wave of the massive public protests during which the population demanded the resignation of the former Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan , has used the Karabakh issue in order to criticize and discredit the government of Sargsyan and gain public support . Pashinian has criticised Sargsyan ’ s government for incompetent and nontransparent management of the Karabakh issue that was stagnating and remaining unresolved .
Being elected by the majority of votes and being framed as the first democratic leader of Armenia , it was important for Pashinian to make efforts to move the Karabakh conflict resolution process forward , which the perceived democratically elected leader saw as his mission . Pashinian ’ s personal perception that democratic countries are invincible and that no country would dare to attack a democratic Armenia that was trying to gain the support of other powerful Western democracies made him convinced that he can change the flow of the Karabakh conflict resolution process and be more bold in his demands and statements . His perception of himself as a national savior who came to take the country out of the chaos and represent the interests of the nation also contributed to making his approach to conflict resolution more individualistic and lacking checks and
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