Statement from the AYF-YOARF on the August 8 deal between Pashinyan and Aliyev

On August 8, 2025, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev, through mediation of the Trump administration, signed a “framework for peace” in Washington, D.C., effectively ceding control of Armenian sovereign territory to foreign powers. But the “peace framework” is merely a pretext for more nefarious goals. 

Azerbaijan, emboldened by years of impunity, has secured through coercion the legitimization of its ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, the continued military occupation of Armenian territory and an open path for further expansion under a Pan-Turkic agenda. The United States, far from acting as an honest broker, has seized this moment to cement its foothold in the region, expropriate Armenia’s resources, facilitate pipeline construction and reward an oil-rich dictatorship at the expense of Armenian sovereignty, rights and security.

For five years, the U.S. has failed to confront Azerbaijan’s aggression—refusing to sanction war criminals, ignoring war crimes and turning a blind eye to genocide. During the same period, Pashinyan has met each assault with retreat and each demand with concession, while Azerbaijan has grown ever more emboldened, confident that the so-called “international community” will never hold it accountable. 

This pattern culminated in Pashinyan’s troubling—and no longer surprising—act: his eager participation in this farcical “peace.” Conspicuously absent from the agreement are any provisions that would lead to the release of Armenian hostages held in Baku’s prisons, the right of Armenians from Artsakh to return to their homes or any concrete measures to guarantee Armenia’s security. Indeed, the provisions included in the agreement demonstrate Yerevan’s complicity and Baku’s incredulity. By agreeing to dismantle the OSCE Minsk Group, expel neutral border monitors and erase Artsakh from the Armenian constitution, Pashinyan’s government pulls the trigger on the Pan-Turkic gun.

While the Republic of Armenia continues to act as a willing instrument of both the United States’ imperial ambitions and Azerbaijan’s territorial aggression—enabling the plunder and subjugation of our homeland—the AYF-YOARF remains steadfast in advancing the Armenian Cause and fighting for justice. Through advocacy, education and civic engagement, we remain resolute and dedicated to our revolutionary struggle. Unlike our adversaries, we are not driven by profit or a lust for power, but by an uncompromising desire to liberate our homeland and people from the genocidal and exploitative forces that seek to destroy it. We stand in revolutionary solidarity with all those who oppose this illusory “peace.”