Pashinyan: Armenia wants to expand relations with Azerbaijan, Türkiye

Establishing relations with neighboring countries plays a significant role in Armenia's balanced foreign policy, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated while presenting the provision of the ruling Civil Contract party's election program for 2026 on institutionalizing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"Regionalization plays a key role in shaping a balanced foreign policy, the main goal of which is to ensure Armenia's ability not only to live but also to develop comfortably in its environment without external support. In this sense, the further development of relations with Georgia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Türkiye, and the Republic of Azerbaijan is of great importance, and the party will follow this path," he said.

According to Pashinyan, in the context of regional cooperation, a complete unblocking of transport infrastructure is necessary, including the implementation of the TRIPP (Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity) and the commissioning of the Gyumri-Kars railway, which will further strengthen peace and cooperation in the region.

The prime minister also pointed to Yerevan's previous erroneous position in relations with Baku and Ankara, which hindered the establishment of peace in the region for many years.

"In our relations with Azerbaijan and Türkiye, we always acted through third countries, meaning 90% or more of our statements and plans we discussed through third countries...<...>When you communicate with someone through a third party, you can never be sure that the third party correctly conveys your messages to the addressee and, in conveying its messages, acts correctly, because the third party may have its own ideas, its own interests, its own views, and we never know what the interests of the third party and third parties are. That is precisely why peace was not established in our region for many years. We changed our position, we stated that if we have something to discuss with Türkiye and Azerbaijan, and we certainly do, then why not talk? Because this is the only guarantee that our message reaches the addressee and we receive an accurate response," he added.

The head of government also stated that Armenia attaches great importance to the further development of the "3+3" format for the practical implementation of regionalization and is ready to make its contribution to this: "Russia's participation in this format is also important for the constructive transformation of relations between Armenia and Russia."

Pashinyan also called the establishment of diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan important. "This direction will receive a new impetus during the 2026-2031 period," he added.