need to compromise with Azerbaijan and meet public expectations . His hard line communicated to the public was not backed up enough with “ behind closed door ” negotiations with the Azerbaijani side , which in many ways disrupted the negotiation process and kept it in a deadlock .
There are also a number of inconsistencies identified in the declared positions of Nikol Pashinian regarding the Karabakh conflict . For instance , in a radio interview in the pre-war period Pashinyan stated that “ there is no land to hand over to Azerbaijan '' and has later declared that the territories controlled by Artsakh are of “ significance to our survival as a country ” ( Abrahamian 2018 ). By doing so , Pashnian was sending a clear message that Armenia was not ready for any concessions on the territories and did not consider returning the seven surrounding districts , as stated in the Madrid principles , to the Azerbaijani control . So , it is crucial to note that in the pre-44-Day Karabakh War period , Nikol Pashinian was frequently stating that no Karabakh territories will be returned and that they have a significant importance to Armenia . These kinds of messages sent could not but cause significant outrage on the Azerbaijani side and signal that barely any negotiations were possible , making Azerbaijan more aggressive and more likely to turn to the violent means to resolve the conflict , which led to the devastating 44- Day War .
However , after the 2020 Karabakh war when the withdrawal of Armenian forces from a number of districts was agreed on , Nikol Pashinian made statements that were implied to undermine the importance of the territories lost , questioning their development capacity and their Armenian roots and origins . This can be vividly illustrated by Pashinian ’ s remarks made on Shushi , the loss of which caused the major outrage of the Armenian public . So , in the post-war period Pashinian has stated that Shushi was a “ miserable and pale '' city and questioned the importance of keeping Shushi ( The Armenian Weekly 2021 ). The abovementioned shows that from the rhetoric of significance of all the lands held and their remarkable importance for Armenia , after signing the 2020 Joint Statement declaring the withdrawal of the Armenian forces from a number of territories kept under the Karabakh control , Pashinian shifted to questioning the relevance of the lost territories for Armenia . So , his pre-war statements on the territories kept under the Karabakh control did not correspond to the declarations made by him on that issue in the post-war period . Pashinian changed his position on the issue trying to justify the territorial concession that he had agreed upon signing the 2020 Joint Statement on Karabakh , sending to the public the messages that would decrease the public outrage and help him stay in power .
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