ArmInfo.The candidate for prime minister of Armenia from the Hayastan bloc (<Armenia>), second president of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharian believes that the Armenian side had an absolute opportunity not to lose the war in Karabakh.
"Firstly, there was an absolute possibility of not losing it (the war, Ed. note), it was possible to stop it. We had such opportunities. This is just mediocre management of the war. And about stopping the war, there was the initiative of the President of Russia, if I am not mistaken, on October 19," Kocharian said in an interview with RIA Novosti, Sputnik Armenia and RT.
According to him, the Armenian side, for completely incomprehensible reasons, rejected this proposal, arguing that head of the government, Nikol Pashinyan, would be misunderstood and called a traitor. "We have lost more than if we had agreed at that time, he is called a traitor, anyway, and with much greater enthusiasm," Kocharian said.
The reasons for the failure in hostilities, he called "mediocre command and control in Armenia itself, mediocre command and control of troops." "An absolute misunderstanding of what war is, what mobilization is, what is the formation of a mobilization resource, what is the replenishment of the army. Any army in the event of a large-scale war only with its human resources, potential can withstand a week and a half. Then the state enters with all its might, goes mobilization of people, preparation of reserves, replenishment. In this case, it was an absolute failure ", Kocharian said.
According to him, completely incomprehensible decisions were made, "and so incomprehensible that it aroused great suspicions whether there were any other agreements here, whether there was treason, something that already belongs to conspiracy theories."
"And such doubts still remain. A thorough investigation is needed to dispel them after the elections. It is completely incomprehensible how Shushi was surrendered. Some decisions related to the defense of Shushi are not clear, it is not clear how Hadrut was surrendered, how Azerbaijani troops, practically not meeting any resistance, from Hadrut ended up in pickup trucks near Shushi. A completely incomprehensible story, answers to these questions must be given," the former head of state believes.