Pashinyan: Turkey and terrorists were the main cause of our failure in the war with Azerbaijan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during an online press conference on Monday that Turkey and terrorists were the main cause of our failure in the war with Azerbaijan.

“The Armenian armed forces suffered a defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh because they fought not only with the army of Azerbaijan but also with the Turkish forces and mercenary terrorists from the Middle East,” Pashinyan stressed.

He went on to say: “Following the results of the July battles [in northeastern Armenia], it became clear that we were ready for the war with the army of Azerbaijan. However, the war with Azerbaijan, Turkey and terrorists was the main cause of our failure.”

The prime minister added that several hundred Armenian soldiers and officers are missing as a result of combat operations in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“”We have several hundred soldiers missing since the beginning of the war…The army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will keep its status after the signing of the trilateral ceasefire agreement…The defense army of Artsakh [the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic] remains the Artsakh defense army. It will keep its status and must develop. The army is a guarantor of the sovereignty of Artsakh,” Pashinyan stressed.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a full ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, starting from November 10. Under the peace deal, the Azerbaijani and Armenian forces will remain at their current positions while Russian peacekeepers will be deployed to the region, according to RT.

Basma Qaddour