If I Were Prime Minister, Aliyev Would Never Dare to Start a War: Robert Kocharian

“If I were Prime Minister, the war would not have started. There would have been no diplomatic blunders that made the war inevitable. And Aliyev would never have dared to start a war, he would never have dared,” said Robert Kocharian, the second President of Armenia, in an interview with the 5th Channel.

According to Kocharian, Aliyev has become arrogant now and has the right to be so, but if his father were alive, he would have pulled his ear and told him to stay calm. “They saw whom they were dealing with in Armenia, I often compare the situation to that of Azerbaijan during the time of Elchibey,” he noted.

“We have a government that wants to put the blame of defeat on the army, saying you didn’t do well. You know, there are no badly fighting nations; there are governments that poorly organize wars. It was said that some people were fleeing; how many people have been punished? Are you aware of such cases? Who has punished those who did not follow orders, those who fled their positions?” added Robert Kocharian.

The second President recalled that Moisey Hakobyan was also telling about some episodes where people were gathered and explanatory work was being done with them. “People were leaving their positions because of your lies, because of your poor organization, everything—both food and so on, and so forth.”

“And to change all this and break it on the army's head or explain it through the cowardice of the people… Isn’t it that same people who forged a glorious victory?” he added.