Have You Clarified Why the Fired Iskander Did Not Explode: 44 Questions to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

The President of the 'Just Armenia' party, Norik Norikyan, has directed 44 questions to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his Facebook page.

“On June 20 of this year, Nikol Pashinyan presented himself to the National Assembly’s investigative committee studying the circumstances of the 44-day war in 2020 and delivered an extensive speech. On June 27 of this year, Pashinyan will answer the questions of committee members. Given the crucial importance of the issues discussed, I find it necessary to publicly direct the following 44 questions to Nikol Pashinyan, hoping that the inquiries I present below will also be considered during the committee’s session:

1. Looking back at the events of the last five years, can you exclude that the formation of a favorable environment for you in April-May 2018 during your rise to power was unrelated to the developments in the resolution of the Artsakh issue?
2. Did you personally wish to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue when you entered the government as Prime Minister for the first time, and if yes, what was your vision for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on May 8, 2018?
3. When and by whom were you briefed on the legacy of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict received from Serzh Sargsyan after becoming Prime Minister? Were you against or in favor of this legacy upon becoming acquainted with it?
4. From May 8, 2018, to September 20, 2020, did you clarify your position on how you envision the resolution of the Artsakh issue?
5. Did the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group present any substantive proposals for a resolution from May 8, 2018, to September 20, 2020? If yes, did these proposals differ from those presented to Serzh Sargsyan, and what was your position regarding the presented proposals?
6. Did you ever discuss with Ilham Aliyev the possibility of resolving the issue peacefully before the war? If yes, what was your perception regarding the possibility of reaching peace with Aliyev before the war?
7. Why did the war break out? Did you personally exhaust all resources for negotiating peacefully or not?
8. What specific actions did you take to prevent the war?
9. Were you personally prepared for the war, or not?
10. Do you believe our army was prepared to conduct such a war, or not?
11. Do you exclude that the initiation of the war by Azerbaijan was the result of agreements with geopolitical centers, and if yes, with whom did Azerbaijan reach this agreement?
12. Why did you declare in Stepanakert that 'Karabakh is Armenia, and that's it'? Who was your message directed to, and what issue did it resolve?
13. Have you clarified why the four-day war broke out in 2016, under what conditions was it stopped, and why was the issue unresolved until April 2018?
14. What were your relations with Russia before and after the April 2016 war? How were your relations with Russia before the outbreak of war?
15. Did you and Serzh Sargsyan have any disagreements with Russia regarding the Artsakh issue, and if yes, what were those disagreements?
16. Do you currently have any disagreements with the leadership of the Russian Federation regarding the resolution of the Artsakh conflict or the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, and if yes, how do you see the ways to overcome those disagreements?
17. Is it clear to you why Armenia has pursued a policy of maintaining 'the status quo' and 'freezing' the issue for years? Was that perhaps a position imposed from outside, or was it due to internal perceptions?
18. Did the postponement of the resolution to the Artsakh issue increase the likelihood of a favorable resolution to the problem, and if not, what policy did you pursue before the outbreak of the war?
19. Did Armenia have the opportunity to prevent the war without conceding territories, and if not, why didn’t you explain the essence and severity of the issue to the people before the war?
20. Is there a connection between the wars of 2016 and 2020, and if yes, when did you feel the existence of this connection: before the 2020 war or after?
21. Could Russia, France, and the USA have prevented the outbreak of war, and if yes, why did they allow it to happen?
22. Does Russia really want to resolve the Artsakh conflict, and if yes, how, and if not, what is your position?
23. Can Armenia and Azerbaijan really sign a peace agreement at this point if Russia's position is that the status of Artsakh should be left for the future?
24. What do Russia, France, and the USA mean when they refer to clarifying the status of Artsakh?
25. Does your government currently have any capacity to formulate or promote an agenda regarding the Artsakh issue?
26. What specific roles and connections did Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sargsyan play during the war and what information were you briefed on regarding their actions?
27. If Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharian went to Moscow together, what results could their involvement have yielded in resolving the conflict? Why did you reject their extended hand?
28. Davit Shahnazaryan recently stated that during the war, in a phone call with former President Serzh Sargsyan, he asked when the Armenian leadership would agree to stop the war. Sargsyan replied that he was sure this would not happen until Shushi was surrendered: Where did Sargsyan obtain such confidence, and were you informed at that time about the Azerbaijani ambitions to capture Shushi or their demands to stop the war on the condition of receiving Shushi?
29. What concrete actions did you take to ensure that Azerbaijani forces did not reach the outskirts of Shushi? Did anyone ever demand that you surrender Shushi in order to stop military operations, or not?
30. On June 5, 2021, you stated that former Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan would still be held accountable for Shushi. For what act or reason should Onik Gasparyan answer for Shushi, and when?
31. On October 15, 2020, for what specific exceptional or special action did you submit a proposal to the President of Armenia to grant the military title of lieutenant-general to Onik Gasparyan while just three months earlier, on July 5, 2020, we had submitted a proposal to grant him the rank of general-lieutenant?
32. On October 22, 2020, when the Armenian army was suffering significant territorial and human losses daily, for what specific exceptional or special action did you submit a proposal to the President to honor Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Tiran Khachaturyan and Commander of Unit N, Major General Andranik Piloyan with the Homeland Order / National Hero title?
33. On February 25, 2021, the General Staff of the Armed Forces demanded your resignation and that of the Armenian government. You regarded this statement as a coup attempt: Why did those organizing the coup attempt not face criminal liability, as coup attempts are classified among particularly serious crimes?
34. On March 14, you declared your belief that we lost the war because a 'fifth column' acted in our army. Three years have passed since the war. Why haven’t the members of the fifth column, who caused our defeat, faced criminal liability for treason against the state?
35. Have you figured out why the fired Iskander did not explode, or in your words, it exploded, for example, at 10 percent? In general, during the days of the war, the most widespread idea was that the air was 'open'. Why was the air 'open' during the days of war?
36. Who led the army during the war: you, Davit Tonoyan, or Onik Gasparyan? What role did Artsakh Republic President Arayik Harutyunyan play in military leadership during the conflict?
37. Were senior former military personnel given full opportunity to contribute their capabilities during the military operations, or not?
38. Who, specifically, informed you about the progress of the war? Who specifically did you issue orders to: the Minister of Defense or the Chief of the General Staff? What is the reason that the information presented to you by them and the President of the Artsakh Republic contradicted each other in many cases?
39. Does your administration have a specific agenda for resolving the Artsakh conflict, or not? If yes, what is it?
40. Does your administration have a comprehensive framework for normalizing relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey, and if yes, what is it?
41. How do you envision concrete exits from the current situation?
42. Given the current military-political balance, do you truly believe that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan is achievable?
43. Can you confidently assert that your current policies are unequivocally correct and that years later you will not confess again that you were wrong, as you confessed that you were wrong not to tell the people the truth before the outbreak of the war?
44. List your three key strategic mistakes that led to the disastrous war and defeat.