In 90 percent of the front line, our troops successfully resisted the attacks, but we had the most serious problem in the 9th defense region, whose defense positions the enemy broke through on October 4 and reached Jabrayil. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this at the session of the Armenian Parliament's investigative committee.
"The task of the army was to stop Azerbaijan's attacks, to prevent its advance, because the above-described attempts to stop the war showed that until we were able to stop the Azerbaijanis, all attempts to reach a cease-fire would be fruitless, or we would have to make painful concessions. All previous attempts to stop the war have shown just that, and that is why on October 26, 2020, I talked about the painful compromises on my Facebook live. But no matter how much I understood the potential need for painful compromises, Shushi and the deployment of peacekeepers in Meghri was a red line for me", Pashinyan said.
He emphasized that as long as Shushi was standing, the struggle had a very specific goal and motivation, on the other hand, it was obvious from the above-mentioned negotiations that Azerbaijan's next goal was Shushi. "Taking Shushi, the Azerbaijanis would block the Lachin road, get the opportunity to attack Stepanakert, and not only from the front, but also from the rear to attack the Defense Army's 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th defense districts, as well as Haterk-Sotk section", said Nikol Pashinyan.
Touching on the fall of Shushi, the Prime Minister mentioned that after understanding, the cornerstone importance of Shushi was emphasized even more, all the instructions were about strengthening Shushi and organizing the defense of Shushi. "Ultimately, the impression was confirmed that everything necessary was done. But not long after those preparatory actions, news came that a group of Azerbaijanis broke through our defense in the area of Zarisli village and stood on the Lachin-Stepanakert road, that is, in fact, blocked the road. The President of Nagorno-Karabakh reported the news to me, but the General Staff of the Armed Forces did not confirm this information. By the way, this was a situation repeated about a dozen times during the war, when the Nagorno-Karabakh President reported news, the General Staff did not confirm the news, even denied it, and after some time had to admit that the information given by the NK President was correct. That time it happened again, when the news came that the Azerbaijanis shot at a civilian car moving on the Stepanakert-Lachin road.
Essentially, this is where Shushi's creeping decline began. Constantly increasing news came from Shushi, news began to come that the first group of the enemy entered Shushi, then the second, and so on. Finally, on the afternoon of November 7, Chief of General Staff Onik Gasparyan reported to me about the fall of Shushi. As much as I was informed about the negative dynamics of the situation around Shushi, this was hard news for me, because in all my conversations, instructions, orders, consultations, I said that Shushi should be kept and I was assured that it would be kept.
Hearing the news of Shushi's downfall, my first reaction was to demand: do what you promised. That is, keep Shushi, take it back. Eventually I was told about the countermeasures, then some success, then they said the operation was going well, then we were inside Shushi. Before the signing of the trilateral declaration, I was informed that part of Shushi was under the control of the Defense Army, then there was the signing of the trilateral declaration, then the attack on the government building on the night of November 10 took place, and when I returned to full-time work in a day or two, I was told, that we have no soldiers in Shushi". Criminal cases related to the episode of the fall of Shushi, as well as other circumstances of the war, have been initiated, and these circumstances are still waiting and should be clarified in detail", Nikol Pashinyan said.
