Armenian PM cites excuses for “Shusha’s fall” Everything to stay in power

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made several loud statements at yesterday's (June 20) meeting of the Commission of the National Assembly to investigate the circumstances of the 44-day war. In particular, on the fact of the liberation of the Azerbaijani city of Shusha from the Armenian occupation. Undoubtedly, the loss of control over the strategically important city fortress by Armenia largely determined the war's outcome.

Trying to justify himself, Pashinyan asserted that he had insisted in all his orders that Shusha be retained, and had been sworn to do so.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin told me that Azerbaijan's condition [for the city of Shusha to remain under Armenian control] was that the Azerbaijani refugees, who according to the Azerbaijani side made up 90 per cent of the city's population, return to Shusha," Pashinyan said, adding that this proposal seemed acceptable to Russia.

"Apart from the city of Shusha, the terms of the truce with Baku then proposed to Armenia included the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Meghri to ensure the security of the corridor connecting Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan," he said, noting that before the signing of the Trilateral Statement, he had been informed that part of Shusha was still under the control of the Armenian military.

Moreover, according to him, "he found out about the fall of Shusha" only the next day after he signed this Statement and went to work.

"After I returned to work two days later, I was told that we did not have a single military man in Shusha," the Armenian prime minister said, adding that [the liberation from Armenian occupation] this event was a turning point.

"What was significant here was not only the symbolic importance of the city but also the strategic importance," Pashinyan said, explaining why he had signed the Trilateral Statement on 9/10 November. "After the fall of Shusha, Stepanakert [Khankendi] would be under attack and most importantly - about 25,000 soldiers could be surrounded," he justified, recalling that November 2020 was already the fifth attempt to stop the war.

In general, the Armenian prime minister's lengthy explanations make it more than clear that Pashinyan is trying to shift responsibility for the "surrender of Shushi" onto his only and still closest ally - Russia. And he has the following considerations in mind. First, to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Armenian public and beg for leniency as far as possible. Secondly, the head of government apparently wanted to convince a domestic audience that an actual continuation of the bloodshed could simply end in the loss of statehood for Armenia. This is a powerful and formidable argument for the losing side.

As for the loss of statehood in Armenia, it is still relevant today, since the country's leadership has not drawn the necessary conclusions from what happened, and continues to hinder the establishment of stability in the region, hindering the conclusion of peace with Azerbaijan. However, unlike the destructive forces in Armenia itself, which call for revenge, and the Karabakh separatists, which do not abandon attempts to escalate tensions in the region, Pashinyan understands the precarious situation in which the country finds itself. His statements on Karabakh, in particular on Yerevan's readiness to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, not to mention Yerevan's near-recognition of the territorial integrity of our country, also bear witness to this.

Of course, there are also objective reasons for the defeat of Armenians in the Second Karabakh War. The war clearly demonstrated the strength of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces against the background of the Armenian army's failure and, most importantly, the lack of patriotism and national duty among both the military and the country's civil society at large. Suffice it to recall how Armenian soldiers fled directly from the battlefield, abandoning their weapons and equipment. So, it is quite natural that later on a considerable part of the military equipment left by the Armenian deserters on the battlefield ended up in the War Trophy Park in the very centre of Baku.

And it seems that Yerevan prefers to dwell on the past and look for someone to blame instead of closing the page of enmity and finally thinking about the good of the people rather than its own power.