If Pashinyan or his supporters believe he was a 'victim,' he could have stepped down shortly after taking office, Abrahamyan

The head of the 'Henaket' analytical center, Tigran Abrahamyan, commented on discussions that the issue of Artsakh could have been resolved peacefully earlier but wasn't, and that previous leaders put everything on Pashinyan's shoulders. Abrahamyan wrote on his Facebook page:

“There is a misconception circulating that the issue of Artsakh could have been resolved peacefully earlier but was not addressed. According to this view, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan could have solved the issue and there would have been no war, and Pashinyan's 'head would not have been crushed,' but they either didn't want to or couldn't. First, let's start from the point that both Pashinyan and the leaders in power have understood what responsibility they are taking, and the danger of war has always existed. However, it is a different matter that prior to Pashinyan, comprehensive measures aimed at preventing war, de-escalating tensions, and stopping military operations in time were implemented, which were not done during the last war. If Pashinyan or his supporters think that he was a potential 'victim,' then he could have stepped down six months after taking office or a year later and handed over the leadership to someone who could navigate the country out of difficult situations with dignity.

Second, the behavior of Azerbaijan in the post-war period has already shown that handing over 5, 6, or 7 regions did not guarantee the end of the conflict. This was one of the complexities of negotiations. In this war, Azerbaijan gained about 10 regions, more than had been negotiated over the last decade, yet they do not stop and demand more, I would say, the maximum. If the issue could be resolved so easily through negotiations, it would have been settled earlier, and such a heavy burden would not have been passed on to future generations. Therefore, the approach that previous leaders 'broke' everything on Pashinyan's head is, to put it mildly, not credible. Azerbaijan was also waiting to see who would 'get crushed.' Azerbaijan chose the best moment to engage in a large-scale operation, and that was during Nikol Pashinyan's administration. The process of failures pushed the country to the brink of war, and the first culprit and responsible person is one individual — Nikol Pashinyan,” the expert wrote.