Was it possible to keep Shushi under Armenian control? Clarification from Pashinyan

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, responded to accusations during a session of the National Assembly inquiry commission investigating the circumstances of the 44-day war, namely that it was possible to stop the war under conditions where Shushi would remain under Armenian control, but he failed to do so.

“On October 19, the President of Russia told me that the Azerbaijani side had another condition: they expected guarantees that Azerbaijani refugees, who according to the Azerbaijani side constituted 90% of the population of Shushi, would return to Shushi. This was a comprehensible proposal for the Russian side because they said that the issue of the return of refugees and internally displaced persons was part of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution plan that had been on the table for years,” said the Prime Minister.

“I tried to clarify what the guarantees proposed by Azerbaijan should look like. It turned out that I had to declare that I agree for the Azerbaijani refugees to return to Shushi,” said Pashinyan. The Russian President suggested that this issue be interconnected with the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, meaning one is resolved in the context of the other. The Armenian Prime Minister agreed, but the Azerbaijani side rejected this, stating that it would not discuss any issues related to status.

There was a question of how to ensure the unimpeded movement of Azerbaijanis to Shushi. The Prime Minister received a response that a new road needed to be constructed, which would be outside the control of the Lachin corridor. Furthermore, according to Azerbaijani proposals, Shushi should be populated 90% by Azerbaijanis, without restrictions on further increases. “This means that there could be Azerbaijani armed units there, which in turn means that it was about, without exaggeration, surrendering Shushi to Azerbaijan,” he stated.