Armenian PM defends decision to give four villages to Azerbaijan

Nikol Pashinyan said the two countries ‘need to convert the theoretical peace agenda into an actual peaceful reality’. Photograph: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian prime minister facing four days of protests against his decision to hand four villages to Azerbaijan, has urged Armenians to recognise that the way the issue is handled will determine the viability of the future peace process with its neighbour.

In an interview with British journalists in his office, Pashinyan, the leader of Armenia’s velvet revolution in 2018, said the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan “need to convert the theoretical peace agenda into an actual peaceful reality”.