I Have Taken Responsibility from Day One and Continue to Maintain It: Prime Minister

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, responding to the question of Gevorg Gorgisyan, a member of the 'Enlightened Armenia' faction in the parliament, reminded that he declared from the first day of the war that he is the number one responsible party:

“For months, I have been saying that I am the one responsible and I have my share of guilt, if you want—the largest share. I say that this defeat is mine, the victory belongs to everyone else. But that does not mean that some should take the opportunity to say, ‘he has hardly started taking responsibility, let’s place everything on him, let him carry it,’” said Prime Minister Pashinyan.

He referred to the operation aimed at closing the breached sector of the 9th defensive area during the war. “Yes, it is the commander’s duty to listen to opinions; I have not reserved the right to delve into the intricacies of military affairs, because I believed that as the leader of the country, I should rely on the opinions expressed. I want to clarify that this operation was not about capturing the Lele Tepe mountain but about closing the breached sector of the 9th defensive area. They are misrepresenting it, saying that for political reasons, he stated it would be good to recapture Lele Tepe since it was surrendered during Serzh Sargsyan's time, and we can use that as a means of gaining political dividends.

I have taken responsibility from day one and continue to maintain it, but it is also my responsibility that the Armenian people know the whole truth about what ultimately happened. Was there a way to prevent the war? Of course, there was; we could have said, ‘give you the 7 regions, Shushi to you, Artsakh to you, everything to you.’ But the question remains: would it have been prevented or not, because they might have asked, ‘What about Syunik?’

I am only saying this: by 2017, the negotiation process had already been irretrievably lost, that there was no room left for giving up even one millimeter, that the issue of building an army has been irretrievably lost, and the issue of state building has been irretrievably lost,” emphasized the Prime Minister.