Tbilisi, April 12, AZERTAC

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has admitted that his country had recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan, as he addressed government members on April 12, DHA Press reports citing the Armenian mass media.

He said that according to the Madrid Principles, Armenia recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan.

"In 2007, during the period of transformation or transfer of power in Armenia when Serzh Sargsyan was the Prime Minister and Robert Kocharyan was holding the office of the President of Armenia, the Madrid Principles emerged at that time, where the principles of territorial integrity and the right to self-determination were being emphasized. It was recorded that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be adjusted by some mechanism, and that mechanism should, in fact, be agreed upon by Azerbaijan as well,” said Pashinyan.

“Moreover, according to reliable information, the author of those principles was the Armenian side itself,” the Armenian PM added.

Nikol Pashinyan stressed that it was their fault that they did not say this to the public in 2018.