RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated that when he talks about Ararat and Aragats, he talks about the territory of Armenia and parts outside of Armenia, “The messages we receive from Turkey are public. But let’s put the messages from Turkey aside. We must, first of all, talk about ourselves. Speaking about Ararat and Aragats, I am talking about the territory of Armenia and territories outside of Armenia. Aragats is in the Republic of Armenia; Mount Ararat is not in the Republic of Armenia. This is a straightforward thing,” he said.
Pashinyan noted that more than half said Ararat when he asked the students about the highest mountain in Armenia, “Now, let’s look at this from the other side. They look at Turkey from the opposite side and say that Ararat is in the internationally recognized territory of Turkey. This is a fact. Now, where do children in Armenia get this information? They learn in schools as a result of government education. In Turkey, they say, if these children say that the highest mountain in Armenia is Ararat, not Aragats, does that mean that Armenia has territorial claims from Turkey? If Turkey has territorial claims, why should we support or even ignore the development of Armenia? On the contrary, if they have territorial demands from us, we should do everything to destroy them.”
