“Pashinyan is Simply Lying”: Mamijanian on the Return of Azerbaijanis to Shushi

The Secretary of the "Honorary Title" faction in the National Assembly of Armenia, Hayk Mamijanian, has characterized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statements regarding certain details of negotiations for halting military operations in October 2020 as lies. Mamijanian made this statement during a press conference.

He recalled that on October 19, 2020, the Prime Minister met with parliamentary opposition forces and stated that he had lost the war (referring to the 44-day war) and had requested Russia to place flags in Syunik. Mamijanian also emphasized that Pashinyan had claimed at that time that the provision of roads through Shushi and Syunik was a red line for him, yet a few weeks later, those same issues became acceptable.

The opposition MP stressed that Pashinyan wants to manipulate by suggesting that settling Shushi with 90 percent Azerbaijanis would effectively turn it into an Azerbaijani city, resulting in the loss of Armenian control. According to him, the best evidence of this manipulation is the trilateral statement signed on November 9, which discusses the return of refugees under the auspices of the UN.

Mamijanian underscored that three years have passed and not a single Azerbaijani has moved to territories under the control of Artsakh. "Attempts to present the return of Azerbaijanis to Shushi as a loss of the city are manipulative; Pashinyan is simply lying. On that day (October 19, 2020), there was an opportunity to achieve a ceasefire by preserving Shushi," the MP said.

He referred to another statement by Pashinyan regarding the placement of peacekeepers in Syunik to secure Azerbaijan's connection with Nakhichevan as part of Baku's demands. "The points that were supposedly red lines for him were ultimately signed as such. All deaths recorded from October 19 to November 9 were directly the result of Pashinyan's actions," noted the MP.

Mamijanian also pointed out that the trilateral statement includes a provision about organizing a land route accompanied by the Russian FSB. In other words, what Pashinyan rejected in October, he accepted and signed in November. He added that the deaths of soldiers during the period from October 19 to November 9 weigh on Pashinyan's conscience.