The President of Artsakh delivers a message, according to him; it was the hardest night in his life.
“On the morning of 8 November, walking in Stepanakert Square, I mentioned that it was one of the hardest nights of my life, one of the heaviest dawns. Why did I announce without opening the bracket, because on 7 November we completely lost control of the city of Shushi. Todaym I want to announce that I had the hardest night of my life in the case that I had very hard days in 1992, 1994, losing many relatives. Relatives, who uttered their last words in my hands, but I was able to find strength in myself, I was able to concentrate, to make decisions, but the decision that was made yesterday, I do not know how history will evaluate the decision made yesterday, but we had to,”rayik Harutyunyan said.
The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan noted that as a result of 43 days of hostilities, the Fizuli region, Jabrayil region, Kubatlu, Zangelan, Hadrut regions, some part of Martuni region, and some of Askeran region, but the most important Shushi, were lost. “The battles were taking place on the outskirts of Stepanakert, at a distance of 2-3 kilometers. If the hostilities continued at that rate, we would have lost the whole of Artsakh within days. We would have had much more casualties, because moving the military operations moving to some line at the rear of our front line, would have irreversible consequences – especially for our conscripts who fought heroically on those 43 days on the front line,” said Harutyunyan.
According to him, it should not be mentioned geographically that if Stepanakert was lost, what would happen in terms of Askeran, Martuni region, soldiers on the front line. Somewhere there could have been great opportunities for blockade.
“It seems that for a few days we managed to defend ourselves from the UAVs in terms of our air force, but for the last two days the enemy, I do not know, through new technologies or new UAVs, had the opportunity to cause great damage to our troops again. We had a lot of casualties only yesterday, in the last few hours, in the Martuni region. And all those losses from the same UAVs. Why didn’t we succeed? We will all answer, yes, all of us, because we knew that our Defense Army needed that, that the problem exists. All of us, who have held positions in recent decades. In general, in terms of the state of the army, it is necessary in the future, I am sure that the assessment will be.
The morale of the army was not very good, somewhere it can be said to be extremely bad. Exhausted by hemorrhoids, dysentery, Covid, the army was on the front line for 43 days, and we did not have the opportunity to change, rest, or heal.
Every day in hostilities, every day there were casualties, wounded, shelling, but we were able to resist somewhere to the armed forces of 8 states. Definitely, we did not fight against Azerbaijan, definitely there were not only Turkish officers or military equipment on the battlefield and during the hostilities, there was alos participation of Turkish soldiers, there were terrorists, mercenaries… The Armenian volunteer, an Armenian soldier, especially a soldier, was fighting.
I bow first to our soldiers and, the most heroic guys in the world were our conscripts. I bow to the families and relatives of all the victims. We had to do it to save the lives of those same conscripts.
Of course, you can say why we were not informed about that situation at the time. I called from Aghdam, from this same chair, reminding you, dear compatriots, we need you. On 29 October, from Shushi, in front of the Ghazanchetsots Church, I said that Shushi was in danger, the positions were 5 kilometers away, or rather the enemy, and the positions were much closer.
They were arguing whether Shushi was in our hands or not, but in Shushi we have lost the main control since 5 November, completely since 7 November.
We did not want to believe that we were losing the homeland completely; we did not want to believe that it was impossible to fight with the existing resources, human and military equipment. We have been trying to discuss and stop at the negotiating table for a long time. It was not possible. Of course, I did not take part in the talks, but the problems were big.
I was in favor because I was not disappointed. If I was desperate, I would think of continuing the fight at the cost of my life, realizing that we will lose and lose Artsakh. Everything is ahead! Artsakh, the Armenian Nation, Armenia… We have had very difficult days in history, but we have managed to make wise decisions somewhere, to follow the right path in the future, and to achieve success.
And who said that everything ends with that? It starts with that. We will have the opportunity to make a decision, to make a more sober decision. That’s why we need solidarity. Solidarity first of all in Armenia, Artsakh, among the Armenian people. Our greatest adversary has been division and panic. The national problems are still ahead, our vision has not yet faded, on the contrary, we have a dream, and we have a dreamed homeland. We have opportunities to make civilized decisions; we have opportunities to hold discussions. And not only opportunities but also necessity to make the right decisions. I repeat, it is just beginning, everything, I do not want to open the brackets, everything. We have not lost. Everything is ahead, you have to think, think and think again. Think, and then make decisions.
I have already started consultations with Karabakh politicians, military figures and political forces. I kept in touch with everyone all night. Note that everyone is ready to cooperate. Today, I have already met with the ARF representative, Vitaly Balasanyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arkady Ghukasyan, I had telephone conversations with various military figures, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Samvel Karapetyan, Arthur Aghabekyan, I may have forgotten names, political forces, but I want to mention, that we have come to an agreement that before we make any decision, and our decisions are still ahead, we must do it together, make it together.
Sober up. Civil war and intolerance are a greater threat to our country, not only to Artsakh, but also to Armenia.
In the near future I will present in more detail in terms of our steps in Artsakh. I will present it after discussing it with everyone. I have had frequent discussions over the last few days. Everyone agreed to try to have a temporary or a permanent ceasefire. All of them indiscriminately. There was no one who said no, we continue the war, we fight. Because everyone saw that there were no such resources, of course everyone was of the same opinion that any document should not violate our dignity, that’s why we understand that a ceasefire was inevitable, and we had to take that step,” The President of Artsakh said.
