Were We Prepared or Unaware of the War? Pashinyan's Missteps

The "Zhoghovurd" newspaper reports that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan continues his approach of making statements that he later seems to regret and attempts to correct. The most recent example was his announcement regarding the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s independence during a government meeting. That day, he specifically stated: "Due to circumstances, we cannot consider our mood festive, but we have decided that the 30th anniversary of Armenia's independence should be celebrated appropriately, and I want to say that on September 21, there will be a large-scale and colorful celebration in Republic Square. That celebration is primarily dedicated to the memory of the heroes who gave their lives for the independence, security, and sovereignty of Armenia and Artsakh."

While the public debated the colorful characterization and Pashinyan’s statements for several days, yesterday, during a Q&A session with MPs, he responded to Gegham Nazaryan, a member of the "Armenia" faction, stating: "I must record a sad fact, even apologizing to you—there has not been any celebration of independence in the 30-year history of our country when we don’t have missing persons or fresh graves in Yerablur. The dilemma is whether we should emphasize the anniversary of independence or not. My understanding is that all our heroes fell so that the Republic of Armenia could live. That’s how I perceive it," said Pashinyan.

Previously, answering the same faction member, Agnesa Khmoyan, he spoke about the likelihood of the 44-day war and once again stumbled, mentioning: "The relevant institutions of the Republic of Armenia considered the resumption of the war to be unlikely in reports given to me until September 25, 2020." However, Pashinyan had previously expressed thoughts on the likelihood of war on October 14, 2020, stating: "The war against Artsakh began for us in a not unexpected manner. We knew and were waiting for it; the question was at what hour and from where the enemy would strike."

For more details, see today’s edition of the newspaper.