Former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan reacted harshly to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement about the risk of a new war with Azerbaijan in September if the opposition wins the parliamentary elections.
In his statement to journalists, Sargsyan said that Pashinyan's claims were unfounded. In other words, Sargsyan implied that if he comes to power, he will not start a war with Azerbaijan.
Regarding the issue, in an interview with Medianews.az, political analyst Elkhan Shahinoglu recalled that in 1998, while at an international organizations' event in Yerevan, he met with Serzh Sargsyan, who was then the Minister of Internal Affairs and National Security: “During the meeting, I inquired about his attitude towards the ‘phased settlement plan’ prepared by mediators aiming at the liberation of occupied territories. Today, Sargsyan, who denies the possibility of war with Azerbaijan, firmly stated 28 years ago that they would not withdraw from the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. While he was president, he remained loyal to this ‘policy’. Even at the Collective Security Treaty Organization summit held in Yerevan, when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko proposed, ‘Serzh, return the five empty districts to Azerbaijan,’ Sargsyan responded, ‘If I return those districts, Azerbaijan will block the roads and will "occupy" Karabakh.’
Pashinyan, who replaced Sargsyan in the prime minister's seat, also intended to follow the same path. However, the realities of war changed. Even if Pashinyan has become wise now, it is difficult to say that Sargsyan and his former friend Robert Kocharyan have become wiser. Although this duo now refrains from making statements about Karabakh, they do not know how to continue peacebuilding with Azerbaijan.”
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az