Ter-Petrosian's deputy admits that Yerevan lied on eve of Shusha attack

Baku/14.09.23/Turan: On the eve of the operation to capture the town of Shusha in May 1992, the Armenian authorities began ideological preparations to deceive the world public opinion. For this purpose, Yerevan made a number of statements that it agreed to Karabakh's autonomy. Levon Zurabyan, a former member of Levon Ter-Petrosyan's team and his right-hand man, admitted to this.

On his Facebook page he writes: "In March 1992, Ter-Petrosyan told the Russian newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" that full autonomy for Nagorno-Karabakh could be "acceptable for both Karabakh and Azerbaijan." I have already commented on this statement in 2010, when it was made as an accusation by the then authorities. Two months after this statement, we liberated Shushi.

I said that this military action was already prepared, and the statement was voiced merely as a component of information support for military action. To say more I would have to disclose state secrets, which I will not do, of course".

Added to what Zurabyan said was that on 7 May then President Levon Ter-Petrossian arrived in Tehran, where he signed the "Joint Statement of the Heads of State".

This document, prepared through the mediation of Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was signed by Acting President of Azerbaijan Yagub Mammadov and Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

The document envisaged the cessation of the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the resolution of all disputes was to be regulated on the basis of the OSCE principles and the UN Charter. Moreover, the parties agreed to open all communications in the region. However, a few hours later, on the night of 8 May, Armenians attacked Shusha and the next day it was captured.

So far, the Armenian authorities have claimed that they did not authorise the operation and were even against it, but allegedly the Karabakh Armenians themselves carried out the operation on their own initiative. -0-