When the Course of Defeat Was Already Apparent, They Tried to Include Old Soldiers: 168 Hours

168 Hours newspaper reports: Former Minister of Defense of Armenia and hero of Artsakh Seyran Ohanyan, in an interview with 168.am, commented on the interview of Armenia's third President Serzh Sargsyan, noting that he positively assesses it. 'The third president of the Republic, Serzh Sargsyan, along with the other two presidents and the presidents of Artsakh, is one of the creators of our thirty-year modern history. I believe that his knowledge of geopolitical events and especially the coordination of our state building, military affairs, and diplomacy is sufficient for him to understand what to present to the public and what is necessary for our society to know.'

We asked Seyran Ohanyan to highlight the part of the interview he would also like to emphasize. He noted: 'After the April 2016 war, from 2016 to 2020, we had a state program for the development of the Armed Forces and military equipment, we made immediate changes, especially to acquire modern and sufficient means in the spheres of air power, drones, air defense, and electronic warfare. After me, in 2018, changes were made regarding the leadership staffing, and from 2018 to 2024, a development plan for the Armed Forces was put together, which he explained.'

When requesting his thoughts on Serzh Sargsyan’s references to former high-ranking military personnel, particularly the statement that 'the fall of Shushi was intended to be blamed on Seyran', Seyran Ohanyan clarified: 'I believe that the essence of the president's statement is primarily related to the rapid changes that occurred in the leadership of the Armed Forces, which on one hand can be considered a planned staffing process, but on the other hand negatively affected the overall management experience. The utilization of former military personnel's capabilities and skills was necessary in this war; if not for the current commanding direction, at least a State Defense Committee should have been established in Artsakh, creating a military council where experienced soldiers would have been included in various issues, whether military, state, or territorial defense, and in this context, the president named experienced military personnel.'

'The other meaning of what he said is that at the moment the war was already feeling its whole course of defeat, they tried to include old soldiers in one way or another, but it was already late because every military commander can perform tasks in a certain direction if he has that capacity, if he has those levers, and has his command orientation, his staff, and all his services and branches through which he can also collaborate to accomplish tasks. Any conscious person who understands what it means—state management system, military management system—will understand that if a person holds no state or military position, he cannot implement any process, especially during wartime, where all activities occur according to procedures. That is, orders, combat regulations, preliminary combat regulations, etc. In this regard, those people who have been out of the army and later have not been included in any structure by some order had neither levers nor the opportunity to perform any task.'

In response to our observation that you also did not have levers, the former minister of defense replied: 'I did not have. What I accomplished, I did voluntarily.'

To the question of whether Serzh Sargsyan has been unable to clarify who was the commander of the defense of Shushi, who was the commander of the defense of Hadrut, and if he is aware of who the commanders in those directions were, our interlocutor responded: 'You can direct that question to the General Staff and the Defense Army command; they can give more specific answers.'

The detailed report is featured in the newspaper's current issue.