Security Council Publishes Declassified Documents Regarding Onik Gasparyan's Report

In response to the statements made by the former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Onik Gasparyan, on November 17, 2020, the Office of the Security Council finds it necessary to clarify certain claims made in this statement and to publish the declassified documents related to it.

In November, Mr. Gasparyan stated: "I was appointed to the position of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces on June 8 of this year, and already on June 12, I presented an analysis of the geopolitical situation in the region and the capabilities of our armed forces to the Prime Minister, and a few days later to the Security Council." However, during the Security Council meeting on June 19, following Mr. Gasparyan's appointment, he was not on the list of reporters (only two reporters were present at the meeting), as confirmed by the minutes of the SC meeting (see excerpt No. 1).

Next, Mr. Gasparyan claimed: "On the fourth day of the war, during the Security Council meeting, I presented our losses and an assessment of the situation from the armed forces, noting that measures need to be taken within two to three days to stop the war; otherwise, given the intensity of the ongoing military operations, our resources will be exhausted in a short time, and with each passing day, we will face less favorable conditions for the negotiation process." Regarding this statement, we present excerpts recorded from Onik Gasparyan's report at the SC meeting on September 30, 2021 (see excerpt No. 2), in which Mr. Gasparyan states: "Mr. Prime Minister, in fact, the situation is tactically unchanged, meaning the adversary has not made any progress..." adding, "... In any case, the troops are carrying out their mission; in the morning we launched a small counter-offensive in the direction of Jabrayil and had successes..." concluding his speech he noted: "This is the situation, we will continue to carry out our mission and will do so until the end."

In this context of clarification, we also find it necessary to present the minutes of the SC meeting from August 21, 2020 (see excerpt No. 3), where Onik Gasparyan particularly states: "... In the eastern operational direction... and in the northeastern operational direction, we are able to repel the enemy's attack with our existing forces and means based on the principle of 'not a step back,' disrupting their groupings..." adding that, "... I see the solution to a significant part of the problems within the framework of the formation and establishment of a national defense force...": This expresses Mr. Gasparyan’s position on the military-political situation at the time and provides a more complete understanding of his approaches to this issue at that moment.

Office of the Security Council