VIDEO. The Prime Minister Explained Why It Was Impossible to Avoid the 44-Day War

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan considers the 44-day war to be the greatest failure of his tenure. He made this statement during a press briefing held on May 7, in response to a question from Armenpress about what he sees as his biggest failure.

The Prime Minister explained why it was impossible to avoid the 44-day war. “The situation regarding Nagorno-Karabakh was deadlocked by 2018. What characterized this deadlock was that to move forward from the existing point in 2018, following steps were necessary: first, the return of the seven regions; second, the resolution of the current status of Nagorno-Karabakh, stating that Nagorno-Karabakh is not only governed by Armenians or self-governed, but rather that as much as it is governed by Armenians, it is also governed by Azerbaijanis. This would lead to the creation of guarantees for the return of Azerbaijanis who had left Nagorno-Karabakh. The next step was the indefinite postponement of the determination of Nagorno-Karabakh's status. And, even if all of these steps had been taken, war would still have been inevitable,” Pashinyan stated, adding that it was unclear what would happen afterwards.

After outlining all the details over four years, the Prime Minister concluded that war was inevitable in both scenarios.