“Stepanakert and Askeran were essentially defenseless, and the defense of Martuni was very weak. The issue is that, if the war continued, there was a huge possibility that the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th defensive regions of either Askeran or Martuni would have been surrounded according to evaluations made by the chief of staff and the president of Artsakh. The lives of thousands of soldiers would have been in danger,” the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, said during his live video titled “Conversation with the Citizens: My Biggest Mistake” regarding his decision,
He said that it is not coincidental that there have been dozens of messages from the frontlines in which the soldiers support the decision that was made. “It is not coincidental that people are sending those messages to me where soldiers are supportive of this decision. This is due to the fact that they know about the evaluations, the situation, and they know why and in what circumstances that decision was made.”
Once again referring to his decision, Pashinyan said, “We were facing a situation in which Stepanakert was directly threatened. According to evaluations made by the Armed Forces, the chief of staff, and the president of Artsakh, Stepanakert was weakly or only symbolically defended. And if anything happened to Stepanakert, thousands of soldiers would have been surrounded. As a result, we would have lost everything else that was outlined in the document. This is the entire truth. I hope that I was able to explain clearly what I am referring to.”
Tatev Harutyunyan
