Armenian Prime Minister: we lost the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh because of "fifth column" in armed forces
YEREVAN, March 14. /ARKA/. We lost the 2020 war (in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone) because there was a fifth column in our army, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a press conference on Tuesday. Pashinyan said his statement is based solely on facts.
"I was convinced of that right after analyzing a number of facts. I am sure if you take a closer look you will find the same facts too. I think that in the near future these facts will become so public that the statements I have made will not seem as strange to you as they might have been at first. I realize, of course, that it is not customary for us to talk about such things. Often it has even hurt us. But absence of such a discussion is much more harmful," Pashinyan said.
According to him, as of today, more than 50 former military officers are accused of espionage and treason.
"The are officers and even high-ranking career army officers. I don't know if there are those in Armenia who believe they were framed? If there are any, it is very bad," Pashinyan said.
Only peace with Azerbaijan, normalization of relations with Turkey, as well as improvement of relations with Georgia and Iran can guarantee security for Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
"Only one thing can guarantee our security - peace. Nothing else. We must understand this well. And peace is possible if we are able to improve or change our relations in the region with Turkey, Azerbaijan. Our relations with Georgia and Iran can become even better in economic and other directions," he said at a press conference on Tuesday.
At the same time, Pashinyan pointed out that Azerbaijan does not want such an outcome because it has a military advantage. "By and large, if we comment on Azerbaijan's position, the following is hidden behind diplomatic statements: We won the war, what else is there to negotiate about? What we say, you have to accept and sign". We do not agree with it,"Pshinyan said.
The prime minister said the security architecture that Armenia had didn't work and "to be honest, we knew it wouldn't work."
"We are trying to establish military and political cooperation with many other countries and we are not keeping it a secret from our allies," he said.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. -0-
