Eduard Sharmazanov, a member of the Republican Party of Armenia’s executive body, wrote on Facebook that “the perpetrators of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh can never be declared friends of Armenia or the Armenian people,” addressing his message directly to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Referring to Trump’s remark that “for 35 years they fought each other, and now they are friends and will be friends for a long time” about Armenia and Azerbaijan, Sharmazanov said:
“Mr. President Trump, in Armenia only the advocate of capitulation and the one who handed over Artsakh can call Azerbaijan a friend. After the occupation and depopulation of Artsakh, only someone politically incompetent can proclaim Azerbaijan a ‘friend.’
Mr. Trump, those who carried out ethnic cleansing in Artsakh cannot be declared friends of the Armenian people and Armenia.
When Azerbaijan rejoices, it’s understandable—they get what they want without any obligations. But you, Nikol supporters and ‘Westernizers’, why are you so happy? Is it because you betrayed Yerablur, or because you are burying the Third Republic and turning Armenia into a corridor for others?”
On August 8, during the trilateral meeting at the White House between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, a joint declaration was signed summarizing the results of the Washington talks. In Washington, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, in the presence of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the U.S., also initialed the “Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.”
