“Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven occupied regions around it are the legal territories of Azerbaijan under international law.” With these words, five years ago today—on November 9, 2020—President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation addressed the world and, in particular, the Armenian people, moments after the signing of the capitulation that had been planned for Armenia for 3 decades. Shortly thereafter, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu congratulated his Turkish counterpart on the “brilliant operation” they had jointly carried out in Nagorno-Karabakh. Following the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Artsakh in 2023, the Russian general again congratulated his Turkish and Azerbaijani colleagues at the joint Russian-Turkish military base, celebrating the re-establishment of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and the so-called achievement of “final peace” in Nagorno-Karabakh.
It is painful to acknowledge, but all of this has occurred – and continues to occur – with tacit consent of the Armenian people’s supposed allies in the West until now, when such authoritative structure as the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and the former Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court, expert Luis Moreno Ocampo, have issued public reports on the threat of Armenian genocide. Despite the positive development of the United States’ increased presence in Armenia, the 17-point agreement reached on August 8, 2025, remains deeply anti-Armenian and unacceptable.
The consequences of one of the most disastrous days in the history of the Armenian people continue to haunt us today, seeking to turn the military-political defeat of the Armenian people into the erasure of their identity, the loss of our sanctities, and the destruction of our civilization.
Our age-old enemies possess a powerful tool for advancing their monstrous aims: a collaborationist government in Yerevan, led by Nikol Pashinyan that has allied itself with the enemy. Yet the Armenian people are not broken, and their plans will not succeed. The ongoing occupation of Armenian territories, the so-called “Zangezur corridor,” the proposed “return of 300,000 Azerbaijanis to Western Azerbaijan,” and the persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church are all milestones in this destructive agenda.
Ironically, 5 years after the capitulation imposed on Armenia on November 9, 2020, Azerbaijan and Russia—having violated all their obligations—still have not allowed the collaborationist government in Yerevan to withdraw from that shameful agreement. Despite Nikol Pashinyan’s frequent proclamations of the new Agreement brokered by the United States, the November 9 statement still contains the unfulfilled demand for the Zangezur corridor.
The Council of the National-Democratic Alliance reaffirms that the declaration imposed on Armenia by the Russian-Turkish-Azerbaijani axis is illegal and void. Thousands of NDA supporters have publicly and demonstratively torn up this document and consigned it to the dustbin of history since 2020. The further ethnic cleansing of the people of Artsakh and the above-mentioned ongoing persecution campaigns against the Armenian people prove that these genocidal forces cannot and have no desire or intention to establish genuine peace in our region. Removing Nikol Pashinyan’s collaborationist government, creating the necessary international conditions for the safe return of Artsakh Armenians to their homeland, and achieving real, lasting, and just peace remain the priorities of our political movement.
Council of the National-Democratic Alliance
November 9, 2025