YEREVAN—On July 16, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Supreme Council of Armenia issued an announcement calling for the resignation of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, saying, “Armenia’s foreign policy has deviated from the main provisions of its national security strategy,” reported Yerkir.

“For the purpose of eliminating the negative consequences that have emerged in the foreign policy domain and restoring the national-state course, we demand the resignation of Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who is immediately responsible for the sphere,” said ARF Supreme Council of Armenia chairman Armen Rustamian at a press conference.

The ARF Supreme Council of Armenia has called for foresight and political will from the governments of Armenia and the Nagorno Karabagh Republic (NKR) to work in tandem to secure “our place and capabilities in the region.”

“We anticipate that the Armenian president will not sign any document that will ignore the will of the Karabagh people, which has already been expressed through two referendums, and will make every effort to bring the Nagorno Karabakh Republic into the negotiations as a full party to the conflict,” read the statement.

“If, God forbid, such a document is signed, our struggle will receive a completely different nature,” said Rustamian, adding that the ARF has “repeatedly said that no matter who the incumbent president is, we will oppose such a policy with all available constitutional means, including by demanding [the president’s] resignation.”

“The president still has an opportunity to make a drastic change in the situation and, most importantly, not to sign the document that is being proposed today,” he said.

Rustamian also noted that while Armenia’s recognition of Karabagh’s independence was always a priority, the time had come for Armenia and Karabagh to sign a strategic political agreement, whereby Armenia is clearly identified as the guarantor of Karabagh’s security, calling it a “serious step.”

The ARF, he said, had addressed letters to the ambassadors of the United States, France, and Russia to Armenia informing them of “the deepest disappointment of Armenians around the world with the unjustified and groundless pressure of the Minsk Group co-chairing countries on Armenia for the purpose of imposing unilateral and dangerous concessions in the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

The ARF asserted that “the concessions will imperil the security of Armenia, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, and the Armenian people; increase the prospects of renewed Azeri aggression; and undermine the ability of the parties to the conflict to reach a truly lasting and durable peace.”