Nikol Pashinyan's address on the occasion of August 8.
“Dear people, beloved citizens of the Republic of Armenia,
A year ago on this day, August 8, 2025, as a result of a trilateral meeting initiated and attended by President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., peace was established between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Now we call the August 8 meeting the Summit of Peace, and the joint declaration adopted by me and the President of Azerbaijan, which was also signed by the President of the USA as a witness, is called the Peace Declaration.
These names fully express the result brought by August 8, 2025. The peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan is visible and tangible to all.
In the parliamentary elections of June 7, 2026, the citizens of Armenia not only expressed their vote of confidence in peace but also stood up for peace. This, of course, does not mean that we have reached a final destination in the path of implementing the peace agenda.
The agreement on “Establishing Peace and Inter-State Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” which was preliminarily signed by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on August 8, 2025, in Washington in the presence of three leaders, is awaiting its signing and ratification, and the demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan still needs to take place, and we are all very concerned and anxious about our compatriots being in captivity in Azerbaijan.
But it is evident that August 8, 2025, is a turning point, and the history of the Republic of Armenia can be divided into before and after this date. Before August 8, 2025, our state was in a deadlock, while after August 8, 2025, boundless prospects have opened up before us, the utilization of which depends on our collective will, our knowledge, and our ability to learn from the world and our history.
This is where the greatest political and socio-psychological result of the Washington Summit of Peace lies: the steering wheel of our history has once again found itself in our hands. This does not mean that the road is perfect and without dangers; it means that our decisions are the primary factor determining our future fate, and this is a historical turning point.
The preceding period and the results of the National Assembly elections convince us that we can, we are capable as a state and people, to stand guard over our destiny, and for this, I want to thank all of you, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia.
One of the most important results of the Washington Summit of Peace is the project “Trump's Road to International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), which will not only soon end the blockade of Armenia but also become the center of Armenia's and the region's economy, and will help Armenia and Azerbaijan to start perceiving each other not as obstacles but as a path, as neighbors.
We will soon start the practical implementation of the TRIPP project, and this will become a significant regional and international event.
Dear people, beloved citizens of the Republic of Armenia,
The page of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is closed, peace is established, and it is right before your eyes, it is your life and daily life. Establishing any peace is not easy, and our peace has not been easy either. But any peace can be easily destroyed and nullified, and this can be done very quickly, and the question is whether it will be possible to establish peace again after 35 years.
Today, many—some purposefully, some inadvertently—act in the logic of destroying peace, and this activity is sometimes masked under a benevolent or “patriotic” cover. I want to say without hesitation: to make peace irreversible, it is necessary to speak about the right of the “Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh” to return and the right of “Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan” to return, while the discourse about the right of “Western Azerbaijan and Western Azerbaijanis” to return in Azerbaijan should not continue.
This is a question that needs to be addressed both in Armenia and Azerbaijan for the sake of the right of our generations to peaceful coexistence. This is the right that we must materialize and pursue today, and we must be able to overcome any discourse that contradicts it.
I thank President Trump for his invaluable contribution to establishing this peace.
I congratulate the people of Armenia on August 8.
I congratulate the people of Azerbaijan on August 8.
Finally, we have a day that calms and does not inflame us.
And may all the victims of the conflict rest in peace. Never again.
Long live peace!”
