I Have Never Said We Would Not Return the 7 Territories to Azerbaijan. I Even Said Agdam is Not My Homeland – Serj Sargsyan

Serj Sargsyan gave an interview to the BBC's Russian service. In the interview, he discussed the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War and its aftermath, the parliamentary snap elections, and the internal political situation. This was reported by armtimes.com.

Speaking about accusations and the outcome of the war, Sargsyan stated that they blame Nikol Pashinyan not for signing the November 9 declaration, when Azerbaijan had already captured Shusha and was indeed very close to Stepanakert, but for the situation he created before the war. He added that he would never have found himself in the same situation.

“He had many opportunities to stop the war. These are not empty words, but a statement of reality that has happened twice. During the first war from 1992-1994, we initially lost almost 50 percent of Nagorno-Karabakh, but we found the strength within ourselves, overcame all difficulties, and as a result, we had what we had. Then came the four-day war in 2016... We do not only blame Armenia for the war; Azerbaijan has always stated that it would resolve this issue through military means, but those words have never been legitimate for the international community. In any case, until September 27, 2020,” he said, adding that Pashinyan's government did not believe there would be a war because they enjoyed the confidence of a large part of the public, were perceived as democratic and legitimate, and who could attack such a country?

“I have never said we would not return the 7 territories. You could never hear from me that we will never return those lands. Even in 2000, I stated in the National Assembly that Agdam is not my homeland. Could this be expressed any more clearly? I was ready to bear the label of a traitor to solve the issue so that we would not end up with such a fate. I was not thinking about my rating or my place in history. I was thinking about resolving the issue. I remained prime minister only for the sake of bringing the negotiation process to a point where the resolution of the issue would not depend on the replacement of the negotiator. But, unfortunately, I was not able to achieve that,” Sargsyan stated, adding that he wanted to remain in the position of prime minister solely to bring the negotiation process to a conclusion.