Azerbaijan's Defense Army Will Be Dissolved Soon, Says Mikayel Minasyan

Former Armenian ambassador to the Vatican, Mikayel Minasyan, has stated: "I watch with a smile how those in the Ministry of Defense are 'astonished and angry' at the recent PR stunt by the National Security Service, whose sole purpose is to cover things up and shift public attention. The senior personnel of the Ministry of Defense have long been aware of everything, in fact much more detailed than what is reported in the NSS theatrics. The public was also aware of the fraud surrounding the acquisition of weapons and ammunition, but this hasn't stopped many from speaking about it now with wide-open eyes of astonishment.

I spoke months ago about the weapons bought at significantly inflated costs during Nikol's time, the ammunition sold to third countries, the unusable weapons allocated to us, and the OSA-AKAs that never worked—presenting evidence of the plundering happening in the army—and now I am astonished that there are still those surprised at this.

The current situation is very reminiscent of the 20th Congress of the CPSU, when in 1961 the 'revealed' Stalin's repressions, and an entire country and its elite suddenly 'learned' that there had been repressions, exiles, and executions. Unfortunately, surprise is no shield of innocence. So, no matter how much you 'wonder and rage', no one will escape responsibility. No one; neither the directors of today's theater, nor the 'astonished' who pretend not to know.

Therefore, I suggest we shift our focus away from cheap shows aimed at cleaning up tracks and instead talk about an important topic, which was one of the factors in dismantling the army. From the very first day of Nikol Pashinyan's tenure, he has bred an unbelievable number of medal bearers and awardees, lieutenant generals, and heroes of Artsakh and Armenia. Today, we have a destroyed army, Artsakh handed over to the enemy, and unprotected Syunik; in short, we have no security system, but we do have numerous newly minted heroes and generals.

Indeed, there have been heroes in this war. There were people who deservedly received awards and ranks, but the number of awardees is unimaginably large compared to those who actually deserve it. Sadly, in this war, there are so many who did not fulfill their duty, who did not protect the country from external and internal enemies, yet they receive high ranks from the bloody hands of a state traitor and continue to ‘serve’ in their cozy offices without any pangs of conscience, knowing that they are partly responsible for the deaths of 5000 boys. Every time we handed over a village or a district, new generals were ‘bred’. After each failed operation, new 'heroes' emerged. While continuously losing our homeland, we kept accumulating new heroes and generals.

To clarify further, according to open sources, during this time, Azerbaijan, which won the war, awarded the rank of general to 8 soldiers and the title of national hero to only 3. Meanwhile, in Armenia and Artsakh, during and after the war, at least 10 soldiers received the rank of general, while 7 were awarded the title of national hero in Armenia, and 14 in Artsakh. Is this normal? Of course not. And do you know why this is happening? Because Nikol was trying to mix the undeserving with the worthy, as a way of buying their silence regarding the 'loyalty' to his army.

In my profound belief, if the high-ranking officers of the army had a shred of morality, they would arrest the traitor to save the country from internal enemies, and those with dignity would resign or commit suicide, because, I repeat, the blood of 5000 victims is also on their conscience. However, experience has shown that there were no moral people or dignified ones among them. This list will be reviewed in the future so that no undeserving individual wears a general’s epaulet and no worthy person goes unrecognized.

P.S. To ensure you don’t 'wonder' again tomorrow, I’ll say that Nikol and Vagharshak Harutyunyan have already given their consent, and the Defense Army of Artsakh will soon be dissolved. Whether its formal name will be the Artsakh militia, the Artsakh guard, or internal police troops is unimportant; the problem is that the remaining part of Artsakh will no longer have the capability to ensure its own security. There will no longer be an army of Artsakh, and the sole responsible and guilty party is Nikol Pashinyan, who is bringing his 'mission' to completion."