By Ruzanna Stepanian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Former President Ter-Petrossian on December 26 blamed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh in response to the latter’s critical claims about the former Armenian governments’ policies on the conflict with Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan claimed on Monday, December 23, that all peace plans drafted by international mediators from 1994 onwards and considered by his predecessors were about “returning Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.” He said that his “big mistake” was not to make this clear to Armenians after coming to power in 2018.
The offices of Ter-Petrossian and two other former presidents, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, unanimously countered that Pashinyan continues to distort the history of the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process that was mediated by the United States, Russia and France for decades. They said he keeps trying to absolve himself of blame for the 2020 war in Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s subsequent takeover of the Armenian-populated region.
Pashinyan responded by challenging the three ex-presidents to a televised debate on the issue. They all scoffed at the proposal.
“What should I debate with you when the subject of the debate, the millennia-old Armenian Artsakh, no longer exists due to your adventurism and you have no choice but to make desperate efforts to divert our people’s attention from this bitter reality?” Ter-Petrossian replied in a statement published late on Wednesday.
