Nikol Pashinyan: Defeat in Karabakh - Result of Systemic Mistakes in Armenian Policy

Baku / 19.12.20 / Turan: "The war in Karabakh had grave consequences for Armenia. Many of our compatriots were killed, and a three-day mourning was declared in Armenia. The last 84 days are undoubtedly among the most difficult days of our people. We have passed and are going through a nightmare as a whole nation," Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in his address to the nation on Saturday.

A big question arose: what to do next, how to live after that and why did it all work out like this? "I took full responsibility for what happened and I will accept any verdict that our people make," he said, adding that this can calm the people, but it will not help to understand what happened in order to avoid repeating the past.

"We need to face reality and admit that we have made mistakes for many years, the mistakes we made were of a systemic, conceptual and substantive nature. All this led to consequences that threaten even our state institutions," Pashinyan said.

He stressed that he understood all this when he became Prime Minister and tried to change the situation. “But now I am even more convinced that there was simply no time to stop the moving wheel of history. The resistance was hopeless, but not pointless,” he continued.

Then he touched upon the situation around the Syunik region (Zangezur), where the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border is being restored, which is presented by the Armenian opposition as the surrender of land.

Explaining the reason for the return of the lands of Zangilan and Gubadly occupied 28 years ago to Azerbaijan, Pashinyan made it clear that it was impossible to keep them. And in case of resistance, the Army of Azerbaijan would take them and enter Syunik. However, having ceded these lands voluntarily, Armenia receives guarantees from the CSTO that Azerbaijan will not go further.

"Today the border troops of Russia and other forces are fully involved in Syunik, and this is a completely new situation in terms of security," Pashinyan said. -02В-