Sargsyan and Kocharyan Instilled Genetic Fear in the Nation Regarding War, Says Pashinyan

Former Presidents of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan have instilled genetic fear in the nation concerning war and were not prepared for it simultaneously. This was stated by acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from the podium of the National Assembly.

MP Tigran Urikhanyan from the Prosperous Armenia party posed a question to the Prime Minister, asking him to comment on his remote debate with Sargsyan regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process.

“Sargsyan claims that you have derailed the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process with your provocative statements, while you assert the opposite; Sargsyan was ready to hand over the seven regions,” Urikhanyan presented the question.

Pashinyan responded that those who label him as a traitor must substantiate their accusations. According to the acting Prime Minister, it has been the prior governments that were and continue to be traitors, land surrenderers, and capitulators.

“Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, you are traitors, you are land surrenderers, you are capitulators. And we have fought against your treachery, your land surrendering, your capitulating; however, even during wartime, you continued your treachery. There are cases where generals were told, ‘Why are you fighting against the Turk? Your enemy is right here,’” Pashinyan stated.

He assured that Kocharyan and Sargsyan will answer for their actions.

“You sold Nagorno-Karabakh for your Baden-Badens. In 1998, Nagorno-Karabakh was ejected from the negotiation process, and in 2016, Sargsyan said he was ready to hand over the seven regions and also half of Nagorno-Karabakh. He did not proceed, because Azerbaijan did not agree,” Pashinyan remarked.

According to him, the issue of Shushi has long been a subject of manipulation, as well as the question of the return of 40,000 Azerbaijanis registered in Nagorno-Karabakh during the USSR census.

“For our government, the worst negotiations are better than the best war. But what did they do? Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan have genetically instilled fear in the nation regarding war and did not prepare for it; our soldiers fought in 2016 with weapons from the 1980s,” he stated.

According to him, this government would have been able to avoid war only by agreeing to hand over not just the seven regions and half of Nagorno-Karabakh but perhaps all of Nagorno-Karabakh and even more than that.