“We took a stand against the mountain, and in three days we lost 500-600 people”: Babayan on the battles of Shushi

In an interview with Artsakh Public Television, Samvel Babayan, leader of the United Homeland party, former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army, and former secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh, spoke about his reasons for refusing the title of Hero of Artsakh after the 2020 war: “I received that title for the liberated territories, and when those territories were surrendered, it became pointless to retain that title. What you received it for no longer exists.”

Babayan also explained why he left Artsakh immediately after the 2020 war: “I left Artsakh on November 6, after the Security Council, at the request of the president I was sent on a mission for negotiations, people from other countries were supposed to come to contribute to the overall situation, in two days a ‘ceasefire’ was to be signed, it became pointless for them to come. This was the reality, but there are people who presented it as ‘he left, he ran away,’ with the intent of discrediting me.”

Referring to his involvement in certain episodes during the 2020 war, Babayan remarked: “At the same Security Council meeting, I stated that either Russia provides us with weapons, or we sign nothing and leave Artsakh. They didn’t understand what I meant; I voiced that no document should be signed, and they didn’t listen. Azerbaijan had not won; it was fifty-fifty, now their advisors, even Aliyev himself, say it was a difficult time, they were entering mountainous areas, it wasn’t working out. I learned of the signing of the document from television.”

When asked by the journalist if he was aware of the Azerbaijanis' advancement from Taghavard towards Shushi, Samvel Babayan said: “I explained where to mine, what to do, but the Azerbaijanis entered Shushi on November 4-5. All of you say November 5-6, but it happened on 4-5. We should have cut off the Azerbaijani route from Sghnakh and resolved the issues, but the acting commander said, ‘Well, that’s Babayan’s business, he wants to do that; it’s not related to us, I know what I am doing.’ We took a stand against the mountain, and in three days we lost 500-600 people.”

Samvel Babayan noted that an investigation is currently underway, and everything he has said is under scrutiny: “Both what happened in the direction of Horadiz, and the operation in Shushi, and the securing of the rear. There are people here who say in the media that my turn is coming up. Don’t make me laugh. It was a disgraceful situation. You should even be ashamed to speak—those commanders, the officer corps.”