Pashinyan treats agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh as catastrophe

The return to Azerbaijan of the five districts adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh by the agreement would be a more profitable option for Armenia, but the society was not ready for such a step, the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the agreement of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia on the cessation of the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh came into force on November 10. In particular, it provides for the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the Karabakh conflict zone.

The issue of returning to Azerbaijan of the five districts adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed a year ago, but at that moment no one in Armenia would have believed in the correctness of such a decision, Mr Pashinyan said during a video broadcast in his Facebook page this afternoon.

The Armenian party was not ready for concessions even after the outbreak of hostilities in the Karabakh conflict zone on September 27. According to Nikol Pashinyan, at the first stage, there was still hope that it would be possible to achieve some military success; and he agreed to sign the agreement only after the turning point in the course of the war became obviously impossible. "The task was to avoid the worst development of events," the RIA "Novosti" quotes the Armenian Premier as saying.

He has admitted that the responsibility for the current situation lies on him. "This is a big setback for us, a big catastrophe, a big mourning for the lost lives (...). We've fallen down, but we did not slide into the abyss; we made a decision to stop in time. Otherwise, our status would be much worse. Lessons must be learned; this can help the future development of our country," the "Interfax" quotes Mr Pashinyan's appeal.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 10, 2020 at 08:24 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.