We Were Brought to the Brink Where We Had to Give Up Lands… We Fought Desperately Against That: Pashinyan

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to former President Robert Kocharian's remarks regarding the intentional surrender of Shushi. Pashinyan addressed this issue during a campaign meeting with citizens in Odzun.

“Of course, Shushi was intentionally surrendered. Instead of defending Shushi, you besieged the government building in Republic Square to attack. What were you waiting for, for Shushi to fall?” he questioned.

“Now, out of the people who were in Shushi and left it, two are in your teams. Call them, ask who gave away Shushi. Seyran Ohanyan was one of the responsible persons there, the former Chief of General Staff is in your team; let him say who gave the order, let him stand up and say that he was told to surrender Shushi. Did I give the order, and he just executed it?” Pashinyan asked.

Pashinyan noted that representatives of the former government had been saying since May 2018 that he had come to power to give away land. “Why were they saying that? Because they had brought it to the brink where lands had to be given up… And we fought against that, we fought desperately, but for what reason? Because we knew that the brink was not visible, where we had to give up and where everything should stop. Because in the next phase, under the name of internally displaced persons, Azerbaijanis were supposed to return to Karabakh,” said Pashinyan, adding that the status of Artsakh also remained uncertain.