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Opposition politician Eduard Sharmazanov, a senior member of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), has lambasted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s “blatant lies” over the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) negotiation process.

“Nikol Pashinyan surrendered Artsakh, that’s it,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday, rejecting Pashinyan’s claims that the Karabakh negotiation process had solely centered on its handover to Azerbaijan since 1994.

“This is a blatant lie. Serzh Sargsyan's negotiated package aimed to resolve the Artsakh issue through the full exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, via a referendum.

“This was explicitly stated by the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Popov, on 13 January 2021. Azerbaijan refused to sign the Kazan document negotiated by Serzh Sargsyan, which was confirmed by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in April 2016.

“Pashinyan also acknowledged this at a meeting with opposition forces in October 2020. If the document envisaged Artsakh’s surrender to Azerbaijan, why did Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev refuse to sign it?” Sharmazanov retorted.

The politician pointed out Aliyev’s 2016 statement that Baku was pressured into recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence behind closed doors.

"Nikol surrendered Artsakh through war," Sharmazanov said, adding it would have been prevented if the Republican Party had stayed in power.