“We do not intend to direct the arrows towards the Armed Forces and Onik Gasparyan. The Armed Forces, led by Onik Gasparyan, must prepare a report on the war. If we wanted to point fingers at the Armed Forces and Onik Gasparyan, we would prepare the report. We never had nor will we have the intention of pointing the arrows at the Armed Forces,” Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan told reporters after a session of government upon being asked if the executive body is trying to point fingers at the Armed Forces and former Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan so that they can be blamed for the defeat.
Upon the observation that Onik Gasparyan announced that he suggested ending the war on the fourth day, Grigoryan responded, “The first discussion on ending the war took place on October 19th in a Security Council session where it was also mentioned that we would not hold out for another 2-3 days. Leaders of the opposition factions also participated in that session.”
As far as why they didn’t respond to Onik Gasparyan’s statement sooner, Grigoryan said that they responded when Onik Gasparyan was removed from his position.
Regarding the Russian president’s announcement that it was possible to end the war on October 19th, Grigoryan said, “The first trilateral agreement on a ceasefire took place on October 10th. There were at least 3 public actions taken to end the war, and the war did not end not because of decisions we made, but because Turkey, Azerbaijan, and terrorist groups actively participated in the war. That is why the war continued. In general, these discussions did not take place for the first time, and even when a decision was made, there is a lot of speculation here because the cessation of a war is not a unilateral decision. I think that we must continue to make clarifications.”
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When asked why Armenia was unable to acquire SU-30 missiles, Grigoryan said, “When we purchased the SU-30s, they were considered as part of a longer process to acquire ammunition or other capabilities. The plan was to be implemented at a time after the war started. This is the problem; we did not have other problems. There are missiles with different levels of explosive capabilities, and the task was to acquire the best one that could have the greatest impact, and what we had had certain limitations.”
When asked if he also thinks that Shushi is a colorless city, Grigoryan said, “The Prime Minister provided an additional explanation for that. In my opinion, of course, Shushi is an Armenian city.”
Regarding clarifications on Syunik’s borders, Grigoryan said, “We have not agreed upon anything with the enemy.” Upon the observation that the Human Rights Defender’s office said that there must be a 10-km demilitarized zone, but the Armenian side is allowing Azerbaijan to advance with a GPS, the Security Council secretary said, “There is no level of security. We are carrying out many activities given the new situation so that we can have as much security as possible.”
Nelly Babayan
