Head of Askeran Region Administration Sasun Barseghyan Resigns

Head of Askeran Region Administration, Sasun Barseghyan, has resigned. He announced this on his Facebook page. Below is the post:

“Dear compatriots,
I am leaving my position as head of the Askeran Region Administration. My decision is personal, and I kindly ask you not to politicize it.
We have experienced the chaos of war alongside the administration staff, combat comrades, residents of the region, and security forces together, overcoming the extremely challenging two months after the war. I am grateful...

Thousands of shattered lives, wounded individuals, devastated homes, mothers who have lost sons, widows in black, children with heads bowed... A whole lost generation... What a generation it is... Forgive me, comrades... I bow to the heroic martyrs.

On the sixth day of the war, we started constructing defensive lines in Askeran-Agdam and then in Dshushen-Karmir village. The regional volunteer forces and the militia participated in combat duties and operations. We effectively carried out the evacuation of civilians, ensured food supplies, organized mobilization, and formed the militia while maintaining the combat readiness and shift of operations, ensuring the uninterrupted work of infrastructures in the region, particularly the bakeries. Free bread was provided to those heading to the front and the local population...

The care for the needs of IDPs was a priority for the administration, and communication with community leaders was constant.

Of course, there were shortcomings, mostly due to circumstances beyond our control. I have made many new friends... True friends... I have been honest, impartial, and selfless in my work. I am clear with my internal judge — my conscience...

The best evaluator is the people, the ordinary citizen... I wish success and productive work to the next leader.
P.S. We need to redefine state thinking away from the personal. Let us unite; otherwise, we will lose everything. The fragmentation of the nation is a path leading nowhere. In this critical moment, it is a devastating, precipice-leading path...

I repeat, let’s set aside the personal and unite. The alternative is destruction, loss of statehood, and the path of exile... Let us commit as a nation to state-building, rapid restoration and modernization of the armed forces, the creation of modern defensive lines and fortifications. Paving roads and changing rooftops can wait; nothing terrifying can happen.

In the event of heightened tensions, as always, I will be by my combat comrades' side, in the trenches. As long as I have flesh and blood, I am a soldier. Do not doubt it.
We have much to say to the enemy... The war is not yet over!
Let us remember, let us wake up, let us not keep powder dry.
Stay well. May God protect us all...”