Lusine Shahverdyan,
Yesterday, with the participation of Nikol Pashinyan in the commission investigating the circumstances of the 44-day war, “What would the poor neighbor do?” another episode of the series. In this series, the main character, with heartbreaking, self-contradictory statements, tried to convince that everyone is to blame for the defeat of the war, except for him, on whose head they are trying to break the jug and bowl of decades.
After the war, Nikol Pashinyan’s main mission has become to justify himself, to put the blame on others, and he is so entangled in his lies that he makes contradictory statements about the same thing, but he does not give up. Ditsuk announced yesterday that he was informed that the probability of war is 30 percent, while on November 10, 2020, he publicly assured that they were aware that there would be a war, but they did not know the day.
In the first series of the investigative commission’s presentation, Pashinyan, let’s remind, made a historical tour of the negotiation process, announcing that in the previous period they negotiated to leave Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. Then people who are well aware of the negotiation process denied what he said line by line. But yesterday he made accusations in the same style against the generals of the army, making scandalous statements and revealing military secrets. Either the military has lost the war by mismanaging, spreading lies, or the lands have already been sold, giving orders to retreat, and sometimes refusing to participate in the most important operations. And he himself did everything for them: he gave medals and titles, provided weapons and money.
“One of the biggest problems recorded during the war was that our army had a problem with its methods of movement: large vehicles, large groups, high visibility. I know that debate still exists today. In many cases, we had victims not in battle, but while moving around,” says Pashinyan. During the war, Tiran Khachatryan, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, claims that it is a complete lie that we had more casualties while moving than on the battlefield. “If he can prove it, I promise to stand where he wants and say that whatever sin there is, whatever omission there is, I am guilty. Otherwise, let him stand up and say that he is to blame for everything. There is no such thing. Of course, there were lapses during the movements, but that the main losses were during them, I don’t know how to characterize the person making such a statement.
In response to the question of CP member Hayk Sargsyan, whether the army had any restrictions during the war, whether the prime minister made a decision not to use any weapons, Pashinyan said. “There were weapons, the rights related to which did not fully and completely belong to Armenia”, and he promised to give details in the closed part of the session. However, it is obvious that he was trying to make it clear that the right to shoot “Iskander” did not belong to Armenians, Russia did not give “dabro”. And this idea was circulated by the Syrians with lightning speed, when finally the Prime Minister spoke about this, and “we all understand that the limiter was not Mauritania or Tajikistan, but Russia”.
Let’s remind that after the war, Nikol Pashinyan said that the Russian “Iskander” missile fired by them exploded by 10 percent. This statement became the cause of a scandal at one time, and Moscow reacted sharply.
Tiran Khachatryan, who reacted with laughter to Pashinyan’s statement, was also dismissed from the position of deputy head of the State Security Service on the same day. Yesterday, Khachatryan insisted in a conversation with us that it is absurd, there is no such thing, only one person has the right to order the use of any weapon of the Republic of Armenia, the supreme commander. “He was the only one who had the permission to fire or not to fire weapons, it is not only about “Iskander”, but, I emphasize, all weapons, only the supreme commander has that right.” Commenting on another statement of Pashinyan, Khachatryan assured that he did not know a single high-ranking military officer who spread information that the lands were sold: don’t fight, retreat. “Perhaps there were those who made such a statement among the demobilized, but the army is not responsible for that. They were definitely not among the active military.” What about placing the blame for the defeat on the generals and the army? “That person is undecided, mixes things up, makes deliberate manipulations, it is stupid to announce such a thing,” said the former deputy head of the State Security Service. Nikol Pashinyan also assured yesterday that what the army wanted, he gave. “As a political authority, I have set a simple task before the army: tell me what you need, and you will have it. They said: Su-30 is needed, a state-of-the-art plane, I said, if you need it, you will have it. What else do you need? Do you need a title, you will have it? Do you need a medal, you will have it? Do you need money, you will have it? Do you need food, you will have it? “As a political authority, I have set a simple task before the army: tell me what you need, and you will have it. They said: Su-30 is needed, a state-of-the-art plane, I said, if you need it, you will have it. What else do you need? Do you need a title, you will have it? Do you need a medal, you will have it? Do you need money, you will have it? Do you need food, you will have it? “As a political authority, I have set a simple task before the army: tell me what you need, and you will have it. They said: Su-30 is needed, a state-of-the-art plane, I said, if you need it, you will have it. What else do you need? Do you need a title, you will have it? Do you need a medal, you will have it? Do you need money, you will have it? Do you need food, you will have it?
“For example, the army needed money, the army wanted it, but he did not give it. Moreover, there were professional and detailed justifications as to why the money was needed, for what specific purpose it was supposed to serve, but it was never transferred to the army,” Tiran Khachatryan denied this. And what about SUs? “Regardless of who requested it and on what grounds they asked for the army to acquire SUs, a criminal case has been initiated regarding this issue, proceedings are underway, I myself am a witness in the framework of these proceedings, therefore, I cannot reveal details.”
Let’s remind that days after the war, on November 19, Movses Hakobyan announced that the acquired anti-aircraft guns are without ammunition, and no anti-aircraft missile is being produced. Pashinyan also expressed a remarkable idea that he has doubts that they did not resist the enemy in order to provoke a change of power in Armenia, especially in May 2021. Probably, he forgot that on May 21, during the pre-election campaign, he personally announced that he does not intend to start a war for 30 percent of Black Lake, that they have a peace agenda.
The next “accused” is Movses Hakobyan, who was the head of the Military Control Department during the war. “We have a criminal case that a high-ranking officer spread panic and issued an order, he said: go tell them that the land has been given, you will be dragged pointlessly, get out of here. There are episodes that I personally related to, when I myself was informed at the last moment about the decision to hand over an area. We are talking about the 7th defense region, the north of Artsakh. First of all, I forbade doing that, but the advice for that decision was illegally given by a very high-ranking military officer, who, I wonder, had the right to give such advice while in a bunker. The problem is that this area is still under Armenian control. Another thing that later events proved is that I, not being a soldier, do not understand anything, but a man, being a soldier, suggested to evacuate from that region, and further events showed that he was right. But that territory is still under Armenian control. Why were such orders issued?” Pashinyan stated.
Movses Hakobyan said that he does not want to comment on “sick people”. But we insisted that the response was that perhaps the commander of the Defense Ministry reported to Pashinyan that you made such a proposal. “I don’t think that the commander of the Defense Army is sick.” Didn’t you say something like that? “I don’t have that right. Send Nikol Pashinyan to kindergarten, let him come back after learning from there, so that he knows who has what rights and what authority to give orders. And if he insists, let him apply to the prosecutor’s office, I will only be happy if they open a case,” said Hakobyan, wondering if he said something like that, why no criminal case has been opened.
Nikol Pashinyan, whose wife, according to him, expressed moral support in the command bunker from the beginning to the end of the war, yesterday also questioned Mosi’s authority to be in the bunker. “Being with shoulder strap does not mean that you can go wherever you want, you still need a business trip, an order, an order. In relation to that person (he means Movses Hakobyan), it should be checked how authorized it was for him to be in that bunker.”
Hakobyan countered: “I had the right to be where I wanted, it was right for me to be there, and Nikol Pashinyan confirmed that. If you ask him, there is a decision document about it.” Yesterday, Pashinyan tried to disprove Mossi’s claims that the plan for armaments and military purchases has changed. He insisted that it has not changed and air defense systems have been acquired. “Among those mentioned, there may have been some funds that could not be obtained, because that is our plan that we must obtain. But someone else has their own sales plan, right? It does not always coincide with our acquisition plan. This was also the reason why we thought: well, at this moment, what alternative can we get,” he said. “If he said something like that, he is an idiot, an ignoramus. Ask the prime minister, on what basis did he get the rest, if the plan hasn’t changed,” Hakobyan countered.
We noticed that many people blame the generals, that if they had said a united speech at the time, Pashinyan would not be in power today and would not have made accusations against them. “I have done what I have to do, and no one should try to teach me what to do.”
Pashinyan also spoke about the failed Lele Tepe operation. Let’s remind that he was accused of ordering to bring back the Lele Tepe hill occupied by the enemy during the April 2016 war at any cost, to show that Serzh Sargsyan gave it and he took it back, but the operation failed, we lost hundreds of victims. Yesterday, Pashinyan put the responsibility for this on the generals, particularly Seyran Ohanyan’s son Artur Ohanyan, although he did not name them. He said that the latter refused to participate in the operation, which was the reason for the failure.
We will look at other announcements later.