Tuesday, December 1 2020 16:07

ArmInfo. Former presidents of Artsakh Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan reacted to remarks of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan over the past two days,  which referred to meetings with them during the war. In their  statement, the former leaders of Karabakh note that from the first  days of the war they kept in touch with the current head of Artsakh  Arayik Harutyunyan.

The statement notes that during the course of hostilities, Arkady  Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan holding numerous meetings and  consultations with military leaders, commanders and soldiers, came to  the conclusion that measures should be taken for an immediate ceasefire

"We have repeatedly told the President of Artsakh about this, urging  him to appeal to the Prime Minister of Armenia and the OSCE MG  Co-Chairs.  On October 18, Harutyunyan came to the same conclusion  and turned to them for help. Ex-presidents of Armenia Levon  Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sargsyan also insisted on  the ceasefire. "On October 19, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan  prepared corresponding letters addressed to the leaders of the OSCE  Minsk Group co-chairing countries and the Armenian Prime Minister on  ending the war and resuming the negotiation process within the OSCE  Minsk Group. However, Prime Minister Pashinyan reasoned that in the  current situation, which arose due to the policy of Azerbaijan,  sending the letter has lost its relevance. This is the whole truth,"  the ex-presidents of the NKR noted.

They note that there are moments in some of the notes of the Prime  Minister of the Republic of Armenia that do not correspond to  reality, but in order to avoid unnecessary speculations and unfounded  discussions, the former leaders of Karabakh considered it expedient  not to touch upon them yet.  They also published letters from Arayik  Harutyunyan addressed to Pashinyan and the heads of the OSCE Minsk  Group co-chairing states.

To recall,, on November 29, the Armenian Prime Minister wrote on his  Facebook that on October 19 the President of Artsakh called him and  said that the war must be stopped immediately. According to  Pashinyan, Arayik Harutyunyan told him that he voiced not only his  position, but also the position of the former heads of the NKR and  ex-presidents of Armenia. Pashinyan noted that he called Russian  President Vladimir Putin and said about his agreement to stop the  war. Putin said that he would discuss with Aliyev in the morning and  call back. The next day Bako Sahakyan and Arkady Ghukasyan said at a  meeting with me that they were against any agreement without  specifying the status of Artsakh or specifying mechanisms. In fact,  they said that they were also speaking on behalf of Kocharyan,  Ter-Petrosyan and Sargsyan, "Pashinyan wrote. The prime minister also  argued that all this was unimportant at that moment, since he made  his decision and was ready to go all the way.