Pashinyan blames Armenian military leadership for coup plans

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is convinced that the "inaction" of high-ranking military personnel during the clashes with the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in 2020 was aimed at overthrowing the government.

As Caliber.Az reports with reference to the Armenian media, Pashinyan's remarks came on June 27, at a meeting of the commission to investigate the circumstances of the 44-day war.

“Many details and episodes of both the 44-day war and the events of May 2021 lead to “vague suspicions.” For a long time, until the end of the war, I did not allow myself to suspect the military of any deliberate actions," the Armenian premier said, adding later he changed his attitude.

"Moreover, the version of deliberate inaction intensified after the events in the Sotk (Zod) - Khoznavar section. You see, there is an event, a criminal case, there is an accused, but there is no explanation,” Pashinyan stated.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have long been at odds over the latter’s Karabakh region. Following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, Armenia launched a military campaign against Azerbaijan that lasted until a ceasefire deal was reached in 1994. As a result, Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. Over 30,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed, and one million were expelled from these lands in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by Armenia.

On September 27, 2020, the decades-old conflict between the two countries spiraled after Armenia’s forces deployed in occupied Azerbaijani lands shelled military positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. During counter-attack operations, Azerbaijani forces liberated over 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha. The war ended in a statement signed on November 10, 2020, under which Armenia returned the occupied Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan.