If Armenia had recognized Artsakh`s independence during April 2016  war, Pashinyan`s statement in Prague would not have had any legal  force - opposition rep 

ArmInfo.  If Armenia had recognized the independence of Artsakh during the four-day war of 2016, then no future leader of the country, in this case Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan, could have declared that 86,600 sq km of  Azerbaijan also includes the Republic of Artsakh.

This is how the Armenian expert responded to the statement of the  Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Armen  Ashotyan, in which he noted that "Artsakh was surrendered by the  Armenian people, who did not fight the ruling regime." Meanwhile, the  political scientist believes that if Artsakh's independence had been  recognized back in 2016, the statement made by Nikol Pashinyan in  Prague would not have had political and even less legal significance.  In this regard, he believes that the Republican Party of Armenia,  namely the third president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, is indirectly  to blame for Pashinyan's rise to power.

In support of his words, Stepan Hasan-Jalalyan cited several data. He  recalled that, according to the domestic legislation of Armenia, the  government in the Republic is formed not by the Armenian people, but  by the citizens of Armenia. "It turns out that in the extraordinary  elections to the National Assembly held on December 6, 2018,  approximately 49% of citizens eligible to vote took part, of which  more than 70% cast their votes for the My Step bloc, and in fact,  Nikol Pashinyan, who headed the bloc's electoral list," the political  scientist noted.

Further, as Stepan Hasan-Jalalyan continued, more than 49% of  citizens eligible to vote took part in the snap parliamentary  elections held on June 20, 2021. As the expert recalled, more than  53% of them cast their votes for the Civil Contract party, that is,  Nikol Pashinyan, who heads the party's electoral list.

According to the expert, the above figures indicate that more than  half of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia eligible to vote,  that is, the majority, did not participate in the snap parliamentary  elections either in 2018 or in 2021. "Therefore, given these facts,  it is at least strange to say that Nikol Pashinyan was brought to  power by the Armenian people," Stepan Hasan-Jalalyan believes.

Meanwhile, he recalled that before the snap parliamentary elections  in December 2018, Nikol Pashinyan was elected Prime Minister of  Armenia by the National Assembly with the support of the RPA, which  has a ruling majority in parliament. Summing up the above, the  political scientist expressed his conviction that Nikol Pashinyan was  brought to power by the Republican Party of Armenia, or more  precisely, by the RPA Chairman Serzh Sargsyan. "Perhaps Nikol  Pashinyan came to power as a result of pressure from some  geopolitical centers on Serzh Sargsyan, or maybe not. At the moment,  due to the lack of necessary and sufficient facts, it is not yet  possible to answer this question unequivocally," the expert added.

Earlier, the Deputy Chairman of the RPA Armen Ashotyan, who was  released under administrative control after 2 years and 2 months, at  a press conference in Yerevan expressed disagreement with the opinion  that Russia contributed to the surrender of Artsakh. Ashotyan stated  that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was surrendered by the Armenian  people, who did not fight against the ruling regime. The RPA deputy  chairman expressed his conviction that Artsakh had become a victim of  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's geopolitical strategy, but assured  that it could become Armenian again if its return became a vital  principle.