Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referred to the achievement of ceasefire agreements three times during the 44-day war and their non-fulfillment. “There has been a lot of speculation about what happened on October 19 and after it. The following happened. Analyzing the situation, consulting with the President of the Republic of Artsakh and the General Staff of the Armed Forces, I decided that we must reach a ceasefire through certain, yes, heavy concessions. In this regard, I called a Security Council session, which was attended by representatives of parliamentary factions, including the opposition. The President of the Republic of Armenia and the Catholicos participated in the session of the Security Council. On the same day, I invited the representatives of the extra-parliamentary opposition and informed them about the events taking place.
After that, according to the agreement, I called the President of the Russian Federation and said that we want a ceasefire on the condition of the return of the territories of Azerbaijan at a rate of 5 + 2, a condition previously proposed to Armenia by the mediators in various formats. It is in the context of this conversation that we had a detailed discussion with the President of the Russian Federation, he said, we have reached a common understanding. This is a strong record. We are in the same way with the President of the Russian Federation or we have a common way of overcoming the situation. You know that there was a question of the return of refugees, there was a question of Azerbaijani deportees to Nagorno-Karabakh, I said that generally, we have no objection to that question, we will not have, if we connect the issue in any way with the process of clarifying the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. After that, the Russian President had a conversation with the President of Azerbaijan; as a result, it became clear that the Azerbaijani side categorically does not accept our offer, our demand of de-occupation of the Hadrut region. Secondly, it demands that the issue of internally displaced persons, including Shushi, not be linked to the status clarification. This is a new detail that I have not said before, there was a hint that the return of territories should not be on the principle of 5 + 2, but there should be 7 territories,” Pashinyan said.
According to the Prime Minister, Azerbaijan did not accept the agenda of clarifying the status of Nagorno-Karabakh both before and during the war. “Azerbaijan has refused to discuss the status of Nagorno-Karabakh on the agenda from a definite moment. This was the main reason for the Four-day April war in 2016 and the 44-day war in 2020,” he said.
