Pashinyan Discusses Reasons for Not Signing Document on October 19

During the discussion of the report on the implementation process and results of the Government Program of the Republic of Armenia (2021-2026) for 2022 in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the intention to speak about the reasons for not signing a document on October 19, 2020, before the investigative commission examining the circumstances of the 44-day war. He stated that an agreement had been reached that he should be heard by the investigative commission.

“I asked the commission chairman, Andranik Kocharyan, whether the opposition would come. He said he didn’t know, they might not come. I said, fine, we came. People will say, ‘They went, the opposition didn’t come, they sat down among themselves, talked, tried hard, listened hard, left,’” said Pashinyan.

Pashinyan is discussing with representatives of his political force to find a way to conduct his questioning in the commission publicly.

“Here, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs raises its issues, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has its own, and so on. Now I’m thinking, I came, I spoke in the investigative commission, and what I said is stamped with a ‘top secret’ seal, placed in a ‘safe’, the opposition will boycott, people will say, ‘They are covering things up again, they just talked among themselves,’” the Prime Minister remarked.

He also recalled discussions regarding the claim that on October 19, the Prime Minister had the opportunity to stop the war while the city of Shushi was still under Armenian control. “Now I look at the records to see what positions I expressed back then. And I accurately described the situation that had developed in the Lachin corridor since December. I said, ‘The things you are proposing, in that case, such actions could happen.’ But the final reason for not signing any document that day was not that. I will say in the investigative commission what the reason was, and I hope we will come to the conclusion that I should say it publicly,” Pashinyan stated.